Raccontino with the Poetry Sisters

My online poetry group is working our way through the year by exploring a new poetic form each month. In April we are posting a form called "Raccontino". My friend Trisha explains:

Here are the requirements of the form.

• composed of couplets (any number)
• even number lines share the same end rhyme
• the title and last words of the odd numbered lines tell a story

 I love a poem that tells a story, so I started by creating the brief phrase that would be the core of the story. Kind of like a six word memoir of sorts. Then I tried to fill in the back story in the rhyming couplets. I wrote a couple and will share one here. I like this form a lot and I am planning on writing more and finding a place to submit them for print publication. It's a challenge I am giving myself for April's National Poetry Month.

Family Secrets:

All of my siblings, who

love to travel, but

rarely get together, do

not talk much. One day we did. We cut

through the silence. Tentatively, we

discovered a communal pain med glut.

My shoulder, everyone said, or my knee. Tell

me what happened, said the circle, until we shut

that door. I was stunned to realize our

common life of pain. We went back to the rut

of silence. To just one day hear those hurts?

Gave me a metaphysical kick in the butt.

When you read this form it's fun to first read down the end words in the first line of each couplet, then go back and read the whole thing through.  With the contrast in  horizontal/vertical reading, there is something about it that reminds me of the "Aha!" moments of haiku. My Poetry Sisters have published their Raccontinos here:

Liz Garton Scanlon
Trisha Stohr Hunt
Kelly R. Fineman
Sara Lewis Holms
Laura Purdie Salas
Tanita S. Davis

And don't forget to visit the Friday Poetry Roundup with Amy at The Poem Farm and read some lovely poems! Also, you can check out Jama's blog to learn about other exciting NPM fun going on all month. Cheers!