It took me months before I realized that I was missing a crucial element of Pantoum writing.  That being the repeats at the end to link it back to the beginning.  I was so enraptured with another rhyming form I was off like a shot before checking out all the details.  I never went back and revised the one's I'd cocked up.  Mainly because I liked them as they were.   Especially the one about my mother Pearl Cassidy.  It's still one of my favourites.

Again a wonderful repeating poetic format.  I've written a number of these as well.  [well .. almost]
I think this form lends itself well to spooky or rolling topics.  Like villanelles and triolets the repeat adds to the drama or lyrical quality of the subject.  Trains would be cool too.  I love trains.  Oh yes, I already said that.  

Just to prove I've written more than one Pantoum here is another .  Yeehaw!  I love this place already!  

Inside the Kaleidoscope

She’s spinning her colours inside.
They used to be spiraling free.
Locked away, in her mind, they reside.
Gay tunes from calliope.

They used to be spiraling free,
decked out in buttons and bows.
Gay tunes from calliope
strewn petals of pink cabbage rose.

Decked out in buttons and bows.
Threads frayed and finally snapped.
Strewn petals of pink cabbage rose
mortality’s coil was entrapped.

Threads frayed and finally snapped.
Stitches weren’t saved, just in time.
Mortality’s coil was entrapped.
Tethered like sheets on the line.

Stitches weren’t saved, just in time.
Pearl’s firmly anchored to chair.
Tethered like sheets on the line.
Her sparkle’s as free as the air.

Pearl’s firmly anchored to chair.
I smile as her eyes dance and dart.
Her sparkle’s as free as the air
It touches the depth of my heart.

I smile as her eyes dance and dart
plotting a ruse with her wiles.
It touches the depth of my heart
which mirrors thousands of miles.

Plotting a ruse with her wiles
within the cracked looking glass
which mirrors thousands of miles
in kaleidoscope colours of class.


Penelope Allen
31/12/03

Dedicated to Isabel Pearl Cassidy
25/09/20 - 28/01/04

Pantoum

The Pantoum is a repeating fixed form from Malaysia. It is written in quatrains, in which the second and fourth lines of one quatrain become the first and third lines of the succeeding quatrain. The Malaysian form often uses the opening stanza's first and third lines as the second and fourth of the final stanza, thus completing the circular nature of the pantoum. There is no fixed line length or topic. 

Pantoum

The Pantoum is a repeating fixed form from Malaysia. It is written in quatrains, in which the second and fourth lines of one quatrain become the first and third lines of the succeeding quatrain. 

The Malayan form often uses the opening stanza's first and third lines as the second and fourth of the final stanza, thus completing the circular nature (recapitulation) of the pantoum. 

There is no fixed line length or topic. Give it a shot! 


Here is one of my own pantoums:

Pantoum: all things i dare not write

Upon a cloud at night
I sit and ponder long;
All things I dare not write
And so to you belong.

I sit and ponder long,
Perchance to dream instead;
And so to you belong,
The thoughts here in my head.

Perchance to dream instead,
When what is real is gone;
The thoughts here in my head
Which can be known by none.

When what is real is gone,
Fictions must soon reign;
Which can be known by none,
Truth brings on such pain.

Fictions must soon reign,
Hidden meanings thrive;
Truth brings on such pain,
Concealed so I survive.

Hidden meanings thrive
Buried within my verse;
Concealed so I survive
What could be much worse.

Buried within my verse,
Upon a cloud at night;
What could be much worse?
All things I dare not write.