Poetic Forms

Traditional poetic forms briefly defined, with links to examples of each form.

Bob Holman introduces his new ekphrastic poem form, the Rothko: “Call ‘em haikus. Naw, call ‘em Rothkos, I thought, and make ‘em rectangles like the paintings. And get those colors in there while you’re at it...”

All you need to know about Fibonacci poems, a new math-based poetic form that is proliferating on the Internet, by Georgia Luna Smith Faust.

Bob Holman introduces another poetic form inspired by a painter—in this case, Jackson Pollock, whose oft-repeated line describing his state of being in action painting has been molded by poet and art critic John Yau into a newly invented kind of sonnet, the Pollock.

A cento is a 100-line collage poem. When Bob Holman was commissioned to write the occasional verse for the 50th anniversary of the Frankfurt Buchmesse, he gathered poets from all cultures and times to create a SemiCento, 50 lines that say Happy Birthday, What Is a Poem?

Cento defined, in our glossary of poetic forms, with links to examples of poems written in cento form.

Rondeau defined, in our glossary of poetic forms, with links to examples of poems written in rondeau form.

The triolet defined, in our glossary of poetic forms.

Abecedarian poem defined, in our glossary of poetic forms.

Acrostic poem defined, in our glossary of poetic forms.

Terza rima defined, in our glossary of poetic forms.

The ghazal defined, in our glossary of poetic forms.

Haiku defined, in our glossary of poetic forms

The sestina defined, in our glossary of poetic forms

The villanelle defined, in our glossary of poetic forms

The limerick defined, in our glossary of poetic forms

The pantoum defined, in our glossary of poetic forms

The sonnet defined, in our glossary of poetic forms

We’re all for Formalism, especially when you make up the forms... David Shapiro & Frank Lima create another kind of collaboration, the Response Poem.

Having conquered the worm of Dirty Words in his Bad Poetry Curriculum, Sparrow, former Presidential candidate and full-time Poet Laureate of Comic Relief, has invented a new poetic form: Mathemetrics.