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February 21, 2011

A New Poetry Form

I came up with a new poetry form, named for (and based upon the name of) my favorite poet, Robert Frost.  I call it a Frost.  (Pretty obvious name, I know)

It's a short form with only five lines, one for each letter in "Frost".

I made it short because some of Frost's best-known poetry are short pieces.

I also wanted it to be versatile and open, so I decided that it would follow either a syllable count or a word-count.

(I based the counts on the corresponding numbers for F-R-O-S-T on a phone dial)

The basic line-up goes like this:
3
7
6
7
8

I decided (thinking "easy as A-B-C") that the rhyming scheme to be simple and loose, but still constructive.  The rhyming scheme can be any of these six A-B-C- variations:

A   A   A   A   A   A
B   A   A   A   B   B
C   B   B   A   B   B
C   C   B   B   C   B
C   C   C   C   C   C

Here's an example using the rhyme scheme A-A-B-C-C (my favorite) in syllable count:

Wet farm fields
Golden rows such bounty yields
Land tilled by my father
and his father before him
Lives lived-out, filled-up to the brim


I also came up with an acrostic variation, which I call an aFrostic, based on the same principle of standard acrostics, but in keeping with the syllabic count.

Not as versatile as the standard Frost form, but still fun.  Here's my example:

Forever
Return me to the times
Of rural farm plowing,
Snowy woods and Nature's gold
Take me back there, forever more


I hope others will give these a try.
After all, who can resist 'Frosting'?  (LOL!)

20 comments:

  1. Aren't you the smart one? I'll have to try this out. I love Frost, too.

    Blessings,
    Marion

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  2. Hi Eric - I recently did a post about River Styx Magazine which is accepting submissions for a poetry contest. I thought of you when I saw it. You may already know about it, but if you don't, check it out. It is a valid contest (unlike so many others). Here's a cut & paste of the basics so you'll have the info without having to hunt it down (more details on my blog):

    River Styx
    2011 International Poetry Contest
    Submit three poems, 14 pages or less.
    $20.00 fee (includes 3 issues of their magazine; another reader whom I trust declared it worth the fee), $1500.00 1st prize payout.(I'd love to see you win it!)

    Your poems are wicked frosty, BTW. Pun intended. :)

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  3. What a fun idea! I'll have to give it a try one of these days!

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  4. great idea! You should make a contest a week for this!
    Flow with me
    Rose
    Of eternity
    Silencing space and
    Time

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  5. I leave poetry to you. You do not want to hear my try at it. I'll just sit back and enjoy yours and the cool ideas--this was brilliant!

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  6. dude you are way to skilled...a-frostic....i need to go to Wendy's and get a-Frostie....

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  7. You know I am on it. Just you wait.

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  8. Eric you are so creative gosh I cant even learn old forms here you are inventing new ones.

    I love the Frostic can I have one chocolate dipped??

    Smiles my friend

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  9. You are very clever, Eric:)

    Pamela

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  10. dude.
    http://www.runawaysentence.com/2011/02/boyfriend.html

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  11. New form! Nice. I've invented three so far, my Octain has really taken of, over fifty written (only four by me). My latter two forms are so horrendously technical that I doubt anyone will want to try them... oh well. Dig your Frost... nice homage to your poetry hero. Great idea.

    In case you're interested, here's my second Octain -

    http://lukepraterswordsalad.com/2010/12/17/the-sculptor/

    Nice one Eric dude

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  12. this is great, eric. I have also enjoyed trying out Luke's Octain. I have created a new poetry form as well but it is top secret until I know if it places in a contest I submitted it to several months ago :)

    I look forward to trying out the Bubba Frost form!

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  13. also, this. sigh. http://www.runawaysentence.com/2011/02/not-my-best-night.html

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  14. I posted a Frost poem and when I went to link it with Bifocal Univision's current monday photo prompt, I saw that someone already linked it for me...thank you to whomever did so.

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  15. I heard this weekend's forecast. The first two lines popped in my head. After that, I couldn't stop until I finished. I hope you like my Frost. :)

    Beachy Winter

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  16. I love this. What fun! Thanks for your invention.

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  17. Cool! My reset button is always free form as I am lazy. But I am really going to try to fit this in this month.

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  18. Wow....and I mean that. Who would have thought of recreating Frost and creating his own Frosting? Creativity makes you smile. Thanks Eric:)

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