I am doing a series of Form contests. All forms. So those who wish to learn more about form poetry here you go. I will provide a description. The title is the prompt for the contest. So each pantoum should be about romance using personification as a poetic device.
A Pantoum is a dreamy form of French poetry which with its utterly charming repetitions creates a magical form of poetry, which cant be replicated by any other form. The structure of a Pantoum is very simple.
It consists of series of quatrains rhyming ABAB in which the second and fourth lines of a quatrain recur as the first and third lines in the succeeding quatrain; each quatrain introduces a new second rhyme as BCBC, CDCD. The first line of the series recurs as the last line of the closing quatrain, and third line of the poem recurs as the second line of the closing quatrain, rhyming ZAZA.
You can go as many stanzas as you wish as long as the ending stanza then repeats the second and fourth lines of the previous stanza (as its first and third lines), and also repeats the third line of the first stanza, as its second line, and the first line of the first stanza as its fourth. So the first line of the poem is also the last.
This is the format for the last stanza regardless of how many stanzas you have. This is cast in stone as far as Pantoum goes
Line 2 of previous stanza
Line 3 of first stanza
Line 4 of previous stanza
Line 1 of first stanza
This is a poem which was forwarded to me by a friend and I fell in love with it. Here is an excerpt. You can find the whole poem at http://www.users.muohio.edu/finchar/criticism/waldman.html
Baby's Pantoum
by Anne Waldman for Reed ByeI lie in my crib midday this is
unusual I don't sleep really
Mamma's sweeping or else boiling water for tea
Other sounds are creak of chair & floor, water
dripping on heater from laundry, cat licking itself
Unusual I don't sleep really
unless it's dark night everyone in bed
Other sounds are creak of chair & floor, water
dripping on heater from laundry, cat licking itself
& occasional peck on typewriter, peck on my cheek
Unless it's dark night everyone in bed
I'm wide awake hungry wet lonely thinking
occasional peck on typewriter, peck on my cheek
My brain cells grow, I get bigger
I'm wide awake wet lonely hungry thinking
Then Mamma pulls out breast, says "Milky?"
My brain cells grow, I get bigger
This is my first Christmas in the world
Mamma pulls out breast, says "Milky?"
Rules
No Chat Speak
Must follow the form given
No Sticky caps
No cutting or suicide poems
This contest is for all ages so no abuse, adult, or erotica type poems
Proper spelling and grammar
I reserve the rights to:
End the contest at any time
Extend the contest
Remove entries without warning
Change or add to the rules
So it would be a good idea to check back often, Read the entire contest page.
Let the muse inspire you and Have fun. HM will be based on entries and if you have a prewrite that fits the form. message me and I will edit the contest to allow for prewrites
Contest is Over
- Contest was judged on June 26, 2008
- Rewards: Gold: 300, Silver: 200, Bronze: 100, Honorable mention: 2 people
- Final notes: Thank you all for your excellent entries. You all did a fantastic job. I do hope to see you all enter my next set of form contests. lol I kow three of you that will
God Bless
Tammy
Contest Winners
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by CitrineSunrise 33 lines, 9 comments, on May 21 12:17 PM 2008. In Love, Thoughts
Gold trophy winner
• Commented on by judge. [remove] - Error: Unable to find finalist item 4271711, it seems to have been deleted :( [remove]
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by AliceinPoetryLand 19 lines, 4 comments, on May 28 8:09 AM 2008. In Contest, Love, Personification, Pantoum
Bronze trophy winner
• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
by Pamela A Lamppa 24 lines, 5 comments, on Jun 13 7:28 PM 2008. In Life, Love, Nature
Honorable mention
• Commented on by judge. [remove] -
Love’s more than the sum total of our hearts
Imbuing us with great resiliency• Commented on by judge. [remove]
Entries [10]
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• Commented on by judge. Prewrite
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• Commented on by judge.
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Gently your lips kiss my hand And my heart sings melodies for youby chasingwhiterabbits 23 lines, 2 comments, on Jun 11 8:05 AM 2008• Commented on by judge.
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Chasing all those butterflies’ discrete. expression in the purest form embraced• Commented on by judge.
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Comments
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Oh thank you for this one Tammy
Have always wanted to try one! Now your contest is posted it will energise me to do so
Gaylene
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Gaylene
I am glad, I was looking for some new forms for my next set of form contest and this one looked lovely so I did it. 
There are four other contests I just put up as well in case you want to try.
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Rats. I missed it.
Next time. 
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I will reopen it
I was going for 20 entries anyway.
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Thank you so much Tammy for the bronze! I am thrilled as you can imagine
Congratulations to the other winners and thanks so much for hosting these
Gaylene
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Thank you so much for the HM in your contest. Excellent form. Congratulations to all. ~Pamela
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Thank you for the gold trophy in this contest. This was my first effort at a pantoum, and I found the form challenging and fun. I look forward to your next series of contests. Count me in. Liz
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