There are three pantoums in Poems ~ Poemas:
- ‘Wind Whispers,’ p.10, ‘El viento susurra,’ p.11
- ‘Far Traveler,’ p.30, Un viajero lejano,’p.31
- ‘East Says,’p.52,’ El este dice,’p.53
Here is the pantoum ‘East Says:’
East Says
East says set the second half of life aside for ecstasy.
What better prospect than to be a dancer?
Some say St. Paul was reading in the roadside shade
I have begun to feel the urge to drown my books.
What better prospect than to be a dancer?
Wind is handing out invitations at the door.
I have begun to feel the urge to drown my books.
Retreats are being offered in wild-mind.
Wind is handing out invitations at the door.
Some say St. Paul was reading in the roadside shade.
Retreats are being offered in wild-mind.
East says set the second half of life aside for ecstasy
‘East Says’ is a pantoum. Pantoums can be fun to write. I find them fun to write because
of the repeating lines. I also like that the first line of the poem is the same as the last line.
Here is the outline of the form from Ron Padgett’s The Teachers & Writers Handbook of
Poetic Forms.
”The Western version of the pantoum is a poem of indefinite length made up of stanzas
whose four lines are repeated in a pattern: lines 2 and 4 of each stanza are repeated as
lines 1 and 3 of the next stanza.
line 1
line 2
line 3
line 4
line 5 same as line 2
line 6
line 7 same as line 4
line 8
line 9 same as line 6
line 10
line 11 same as line 8
line 12”
Have fun!
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