If I had to pick a favorite poetry form, it would probably be the kyrielle. I’ve penned a few, here and on Anchored Voices. It’s an easy form to master or to at least have some fun with. To be honest, even if there had been more than two entries in the K section of the poetry dictionary, I would have picked kyrielle this week.
The Challenge
Your challenge this week is to write a kyrielle of at least three stanzas. You can write more if you like, but if you don’t have at least three it’s really just more of a quatrain, and we aren’t to Q yet.
KYRIELLE (keer-ee-el’) French four-line stanza form in which each line contains eight syllables and the fourth line is a refrain.
If the refrain rhymes with other lines, the usual rhyme schemes are aabB ccbB (etc.) and abaB cbcB (etc.). If the refrain is not rhymed, the rhyme scheme is usually aaaR bbbR (etc.). In either case, the capital letter indicates a refrain, either rhymed (B) or unrhymed (R). Theodore Roethke uses the kyrielle, with an unrhymed refrain, for some of his light verse and nonsense poems, such as “Dinky.”
the poetry dictionary, p. 152-153
The paint chip words and phrases you have to work with are it takes two to tango, black widow, Niagara Falls, dragonfly, warm glow, orange you glad, and tissue. I would like you to use at least three of these words or phrases, including one as part of your repeating refrain.
My Poem
It’s been an incredibly busy week and it’s almost 10:00 p.m. as I write this prompt. I’m tempted to simply use one of my prior kyrielles, but of course it’s unlikely they use any of the paint chips. And yet the words refuse to flow tonight. So I will have to update this post with my response to the prompt. I came up with a title, but the rest will have to wait.
A Warm Glow TBW
Your Turn
Now it’s your turn to surprise me with your superb kyrielles. Pick a rhyme scheme that suits you and be daring with your repeating refrain. Post your poem in the comments or post it on your blog and share a link in the comments. And remember to invite your friends to come play along in our paint chip poetry game.