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PD30 Day 10: The Mighty Mighty Pantoum

Today post was written by guest blogger Jenn Mercer.

Are villanelles too rigid for you? Sestinas too long? How about trying a Pantoum? The Pantoum is a repeating form like the ones above, but it gives you a little bit more flexibility. Like the villanelle, Pantoums use lines which are repeated in their entirety, but they are not the same lines throughout the poem. The sestina only repeats words, but in a fixed six stanza form which can be quite intimidating.  In a Pantoum, the repeating lines are a gift rather than a constraint.

Pantoums are written in four line stanzas. Each stanza, except for the first and last, uses the second and fourth lines of the stanza before as the first and third lines of the new stanza. This sounds complicated, but it is easy enough once you get going. The last stanza is also an exception because it uses the first and third lines of the first stanza as its second and fourth lines.

The first step is to think of a general subject or theme. Try not to over think this because once you get past the first stanza, the lines are reacting to the lines that came before them.  Take particular care with the first and third lines of the poem as you will be using them as your conclusion.

Now on to the nitty gritty… how do we do this thing?

There are two methods which I have used to write Pantoums and they are on completely different sides of the technology scale. First the manual method:  take a ruled notebook and write the line numbers in the margin. Write the first line of the poem.  Proceed on to the second, third, etc. When you come to a lower line number, copy the appropriate line. You can do this as soon as you write each line or as you come to each repeating line. Use whatever method makes you happy and change it any time you feel like it. Oh, and you probably should be doing this in pencil. This is the most tedious part of the process and it is for this reason that I created the high tech method below.

Plan B is the semiautomatic method, using an Excel spreadsheet. Yes, I write poems using Excel. It makes me feel creative and geeky at the same time. Although the gridlines may make the field of play seem somewhat sterile, Excel (or whatever spreadsheet program you prefer) takes the manual labor of creating a Pantoum out of the equation. This is very simple, even if you have never used Excel before.  Begin, as before, with listing the line numbers in order in the far left column.  In the next column to the right, list the line numbers that should be copied onto each line. It should look something like this:

Ex A

1          1          THIS

2          2          IS

3          3          SO

4          4          EASY

5          2          IS [repeated line]

6          5          IT

7          4          EASY [repeated line]

8          6          FOR YOU TOO?

etc…

The next column to the right is where you will add the formulas and they could not be simpler. Click on the cell to the right of the first repeating line, type “=” and then click on the line to the right of the corresponding number. In other words, click on the blank cell in your spreadsheet where I have the word “IS (repeated),” type “=”, and then click on the blank cell in your spreadsheet where I have “IS” (without the word repeated). The result will look something like this: “=C3″. Do this for all of the repeating lines. In order to avoid errors, I typed NEW into all of the original lines (Please don’t type all over your nice new formulas). This, of course, caused the word “NEW” to populate all the way down my Pantoum. However, as I fill out the Pantoum, these lines are replaced by the repeating lines with the word new only appearing when I need to actually write a line of poetry.

Ex B

*          A         B          C

1

2          1          1          NEW

3          2          2          NEW

4          3          3          NEW

5          4          4          NEW

6

7          5          2          =C3

8          6          5          NEW

9          7          4          =C5

10         8          6          NEW

With this method, it is especially helpful to decide in advance how long you would like your Pantoum to be. You can change your mind later, but you will have to do some manual rearrangement of the lines later.

Regardless of which method I use to start a Pantoum, I return to Word (insert your favorite word processing program here) in order to edit. If I get lost, I will consult my original document to make sure the lines are repeating in the right order. Other than that, the form is really very free.

Strategies:

• Try using subjects with a natural pattern of repetition such as the seasons, life cycles, generations, etc.
• Avoid trying to tell a linear chronological story.
• Avoid multiple subjects and ambiguous pronouns.
• Feel free to make small changes such as tense, number, and punctuation in the repeating phrases.

I will have to admit that one of the things that I like about Pantoums is that half the poem writes itself. Finding a way to weave in the old lines with new ideas and yet maintain a cohesive whole becomes a game.

As a gesture of solidarity, I have written my own Pantoum (see below). This poem took several attempts to make sure that the poem made sense in the last few stanzas.  As you can see, I have taken statements and turned them into questions and changed the subject of the poem as it develops.  Finally, I changed the first stanza so that the lines which repeat in the last stanza would mesh with the lines repeated from the second to last stanza.

The Eyewall

I have been dreaming of the eyewall

opening into clear air

circling an inner core

where the hard winds begin.

Opening into clear air

like the eye of a god proclaiming

where the hard winds will begin

to breathe in the salt ocean.

Like the eye of a god proclaiming,

who orders the sea

to breathe in the salt ocean,

erasing the barrier between sea and air.

Who orders the sea

to rise to the unspeakable howl of the winds,

erasing the barrier between sea and air?

I open my eyes in the still of the storm

to rise to the unspeakable howl of the winds

circling an inner core.

I open my eyes in the still of the storm

dreaming of the eyewall.

Go ahead and write your own.  Feel free to experiment with the form until you write something to your own liking. If you enjoyed this, try a sestina or villanelle.

Jenn Mercer (http://www.jennmercer.com/) is a freelance Writer, Poet and Translator living in Raleigh, NC. She has been published in Astropoetica, Nth Degree, the Grapevine, and on The Fix (http://thefix-online.com/category/features/distillations/), where she has a monthly poetry column.