Geomantic

Sometimes people think the poetic forms are old, ancient artifacts commissioned by the gods and sanctioned by years upon years of tradition. Sure the pantoum is from 15th century Malaysia and the villanelle is from France, but not that much more recent. Some of the forms mentioned so far this month are quite new or relatively so. The clerihew is just over a hundred years old and the Golden Shovel was introduced to us by Terence Hayes in 2010. Forms are appearing and changing all the time. Today’s form is the geomantic from Paula Meehan’s 2016 book of the same name.

The form consists of nine lines, each with nine syllables. It’s compact, terse even. While many of the poems in the book are one stanza, some are broken in a few. All the poems still have nine lines.

Below is an example from the publisher’s website and a link to that site. Today’s challenge is to try this form or to even make one of your own.

Geomantic – Dedalus Press

The Moons

Moons like petals adrift on the stream:
night moon and day moon, moon in eclipse,
slender new moon in the winter sky,
and full harvest moon — a golden ball;
moon of my first breath, my mother’s death,
grandfather moon, my father’s frail boat,
moon of my lost child, my sister’s fall,
moon of my belovèd’s waking dream,
moons of my life adrift on the stream.

 

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