A trochee fidgets
opposite an iamb,
while the dactyl hungrily
eyes the anapest.
The couplet feels inadequate
next to its heroic namesake
and the ballad is envious
of the ballade.
The light-hearted limerick skips
around the room,
carelessly bumping into
the epic,
who gazes down its
aristocratic nose in annoyance.
In the corner, the sonnet
stares doe-eyed at the lyric,
who nervously
looks away.
Thinking they are unseen,
the quatrain and the
sestet engage in a
tete-a-tete.
“Get a room” yells
the burlesque
and the haiku blushes wildly.
Author notes
This poem personifies poetic terms - particular meters and forms of poetry. A humorous look at the "jargon" of poetry.
A contest entry
- Poems with Poetry Terms Built In! Prewrites or New! by Periwinkle Blue.
600 points, ended October 9, 2007, 6 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Do You Write Serious Poetry or the Kind that Rhymes? (Contest) by Peripatetic.
1400 points, ended July 29, 2008, 27 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 9 of 9
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These are wonderfully humorous pairings of devices, figures, forms and terms. I especially enjoyed the last, imagining a muted haiku married to a wild burlesque theme in a formal Japanese garden, scandalizing all the other haiku, senryu and tanka in attendance.
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nicely done
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Amazing. Well deserved gold.
These had me grinning:
"the ballad is envious
of the ballade."
and especially
"“Get a room” yells
the burlesque
and the haiku blushes wildly."
Congrats!
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Love the personification here! 
What fun to bring poetic terms to life! 
star++
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Writing on writing, the tools of the trade, personified, so brought to life.
I think you have a concept here that could really be expounded on, give each pieced a personality, not necessarily wrong, for instance, the haiku blusing infers that it is shy. Make the him/her nervous about being around all these complex forms, give it a feminine or masculine tone...etc. I think you have just the tip of the iceberg here, cliche'd I know. Great work and hope to see more.
Jim
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Great characterization! Especially when it gets to the line about the limerick skipping and you fall into the pace of describing the poetic forms in the room. I laughed out loud when the limerick bumped into epic :-), you perfectly captured how the lyric and the sonnet would act if they were persons, and there was something really profound about the haiku blushing -- as if the blush is being overwhelmed (yet fully committed to) the intensity of the emotion in that moment. I'm not too sure that the word "aristocratic" was necessary in the one line (I think the idea comes across without having to say it), but otherwise I think everything is perfect from the ninth line downwards. My thought for the first batch of lines is that maybe the text could act out the words? For example, the line about the trochee could contain a trochee. The line about the anapest could contain an anapest. I just had a harder time seeing the character of those words as I did the poetic forms that came later. But again, great poem
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LOL I started reading this without really seeing the title, and thought to myself "wow, all those words look like dinosaurs fighting", which means you've definitely captured your intent absolutely perfectly. I loved that! It was cute without being "cutesy" if that makes sense, and I found myself really getting into it and smiling. Can't ask for more than that with a poem
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lol...too cool for school...I have to admit that all of this reminded me of a high scool romp...thank you for sharing. keep up the great work. Peace and light always, Kendal
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absolutely fabulous
You've done a fabulous job of capturing the essence of each poetic device mentioned. The poem is adorable and yet intelligent. This is the kind of poem that should be placed at the introduction of the poetry section in lit. textbooks.
The assonance (probably my favorite poetic device) really drives this piece along.
Brilliantly done.
-K
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