Poetry forms of occasions, events and rituals

“Oooooo. Aaaaahhh,” my kids sing as we head to the Habitat for Humanity thrift store with our gently used clothing donation. Twinkling lights cover the houses like lace, and figures of Santa Claus, his reindeer, and light-dappled trees cavort in front yards. Some streets seem to have been lost by New York or Las Vegas, they have so many lights, but Florida has to somehow compensate for the lack of snow.

The December holidays are upon us and give rise to various occasions, rituals, and events, depending on your culture and family traditions. I thought this was the perfect time to cover this type of poetry and forms of poetry.

occasional poetry

More a genre of poetry than a form of poetry, occasion poems document an occasion. While they are most often written about those special occasions like weddings and births, they can also be about winning a race or baking cookies with Grandma.

BRIEF HISTORY

As long as there have been occasions, there have been occasional poems. Whenever you come across a written language and literature of a culture in history, you will probably find that someone wrote a poem about an occasion.

SHOULD HAVE

–Write about an occasion, that’s all.

I COULD HAVE o What is the poet’s choice in all of this?

–Any form (or no form in particular) just follow the rules of the form if you use one.

–Any rhyme (or no rhyme), unless a form is used, then you follow the rhyme scheme for that form.

–Any meter (or no meter set) unless a form is used, then you follow the meter required for that form.

–Length can be long or short. However, if you use a form, that form may dictate the length.

ritual poem

At first glance, a ritual poem seems similar to an occasional poem. We all have specific things that we do each morning and night that are ritual in nature. A ritual poem is actually very spiritual; a way to connect with your God.

BRIEF HISTORY

Like the poetry of earlier occasions, the ritual poem is as old as sacred rituals and can be found in many places.

SHOULD HAVE

There are two variations of the ritual poem. One is simply mentioning the ritual, a spiritual object or a sacred place. The second is like a list of instructions for the ritual. the teachers and writers handbook of poetic forms has a fantastic modern example of this type of poem, as well as a list of instructions. Here’s that except:

Inspired by a recent eclipse, a student wrote this ritual poem:

eclipse ritual

1. Turn off the lights and hand out paper moons to everyone.

2. Imagine that your face is the sun and put the moon in front of it.

3. Say DARK DARK DARK DARK and close your eyes.

4. Say ECLIPSE ECLIPSE ECLIPSE ECLIPSE.

5. Then become one by wearing dark clothes.

Here are some things to remember when writing this type of ritual poem:

1. Decide what you would like to see happen.

2. Examine all aspects of the topic.

3. Think of actions to illustrate some of these aspects.

4. Write each action as a command.

5. Number the commands.

6. Let go.

(Padgett 157)

I COULD HAVE o What is the poet’s choice in all of this?

As you can see from the example above, you don’t have to write a religious ritual if you don’t want to, however, you will want to choose a time that can convey a spiritual feeling.

event poem

The event poem is another form of poetry that is a numerical list. In the ritual poem, it contains some kind of ritual. However, an event poem does not feature an event.

BRIEF HISTORY

“Event poems emerged in the late 1950s, at the same time as the art form called ‘Happenings.’ In fact, an event poem could be seen as the written equivalent of a Happening” (Padgett 74). Events were played out without plots, in which wacky things happened. The event poem takes a common object and lists wacky things to do with the.

SHOULD HAVE

–An object to write about.

–Start lines with verbs. Without verbs of being (is, am, are, was, were been, etc). Only action here!

–At least three lines.

–Nothing you would normally do with or to the subject of the poem.

Example from my favorite book of poetic forms:

pineapple event poem

1. Cut the pineapple in half and wear the two halves as earmuffs on a cold winter day.

2. Peel the skin off 100 pineapples and glue them to the floor like tiles.

3. Cut five of the small round diamonds in the pineapple skin and sew them on your jacket as buttons.

4. Look at the pineapple. It looks like the torch from the Statue of Liberty.

5. Feel the pineapple. It feels like a suede sneaker on a very large child’s foot.

(Padgett 75)

I COULD HAVE o What is the poet’s choice in all of this?

–Any object.

–Any length that is more than 3 lines.

–Rhyme or not (although most don’t).

OF NOTE

Try using this type of poem as a way to practice your creative thinking or a fun way to beat writer’s block.

Source Notes:

Padget, Ron. Manual of poetic forms for teachers and writers. 2nd. New York: T&W Books, 2000.