Pantoum

A pantoum is a structured poem that uses repetition, has no rhyme scheme, and does not have a specific number of stanzas necessary to complete its format. The arrangement of a pantoum goes as follows:

• Each stanza it a quatrain (containing 4 lines).

• Write the first quatrain of the poem.

• Lines 2 and 4 of the first stanza are repeated as line 1 and 3, respectively, in the second stanza.

  • For the second stanza, develop new lines for 2 and 4.

• Lines 2 and 4 of the second stanza are repeated as lines 1 and 3, respectively, in the third stanza.

  • For the third stanza, develop new lines for 2 and 4

• This pattern continues throughout the entirety of the poem.

• The final stanza, lines 3 and 1 of the first stanza will be repeated as lines 2 and 4, respectively, for the last quatrain.

Example Pantoum written by The Host:

Learn how to write raw poems again-

Unedited and newborn.

Count your similes like every unhatched egg in the basket.

This will be the birth of personification and chicken scratch.

Unedited and newborn.

Let your mind wonder as you go. Do not think or hit backspace.

This will be the birth of personification and chicken scratch,

All baked in a learning artist pie.

Let your mind wonder as you go. Do not hit backspace.

This is how you rediscover your poet and the wonders they can create.

All baked in a learning artist pie.

And won’t it be lovely when you serve this unfinished product.

This is how you rediscover your poet and the wonders they can create.

Count your similes like every unhatched egg in the basket,

And when nothing hatches from this, begin again.

Learn how to write raw poems again.

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