Oddquain
Oddquain is a short, usually unrhymed poem consisting of seventeen syllables distributed
1, 3, 5, 7, 1 in five lines, developed by Glenda L. Hand.
Oddquain variations:
oddquain sequences - poems made up of oddquain stanzas
crown oddquains - a five stanza oddquain sequence
reverse oddquains - a oddquain with a reverse syllable pattern of 1-7-5-3-1
mirror oddquains - a two stanza oddquain sequence of the pattern 1-3-5-7-1 1-7-5-3-1
oddquain butterflies - a “merged mirror oddquain” where the two stanzas of a mirror
oddquain are merged together, one of the middle 1 syllable lines is dropped, resulting
in one nine line stanza of the form 1-3-5-7-1-7-5-3-1. Please note that a oddquain
butterfly is not a “oddquain” because it doesn’t have five lines, but it is “butterfly” made
up of two oddquains that were merged together into one poem.
Example #1:
Autumn
Fall
leaves floating
downward, spiral dance
of joy begun, welcoming
fall.
Copyright © 2006 Glenda L. Hand
Example #2:
September 11, 2006
Hope
remains after disaster
bonding together
past the pain.
Love
Copyright © 2006 Glenda L. Hand
Example #3:
Cards
Cards
Game of chance
Can be played alone
As a game of solitaire
Deal
Copyright © 2006 Cynthia Kay Armstrong
Example #4:
Change of Seasons (Mirror Oddquain)
Breeze
bites with cold
bitter now after
summer's warmth has fled away--
fall
breeze
spirals gold and red leaves
mixed into colored
carpet, new
day.
Copyright © 2006 Glenda L. Hand
Example #5:
Celebration (Butterfly Oddquain)
Child
dances in
September's swirl of
leaves, golden colors form her
skirt
of dazzling freedom, twirling
into the final
fall to earth's
arms
Copyright © 2006 Glenda L. Hand
Example #6:
At Last I’ve Let Go (Crown Oddquain)
Love
happiness
once full of colour
now shards of disappointment
~fool~
Prized
feelings crushed
beneath tumbled words
washed out with twilight raindrops
~gone~
Pause
for much thought
and straightforwardness
shilly-shallying cut short
~stop~
A
colourful
chalk, smudged to nothing
curtain call on future dreams
~lost~
The
scented rains
that watered my soul
no longer wreaks disorder
~glad~
Copyright © 2006 Claire Litchfield
