Terzanelle: Manzanar Riot
by Claire Kageyama-Ramakrishnan
Terzanelle Form Poetry
This is a poem with missing details,
of ground gouging each barrack's windowpane,
sand crystals falling with powder and shale,
where silence and shame make adults insane.
This is about a midnight of searchlights,
of ground gouging each barrack's windowpane,
of syrup on rice and a cook's big fight.
This is the night of Manzanar's riot.
This is about a midnight of searchlights,
a swift moon and a voice shouting, Quiet!
where the revolving searchlight is the moon.
This is the night of Manzanar's riot,
windstorm of people, rifle powder fumes,
children wiping their eyes clean of debris,
where the revolving searchlight is the moon,
and children line still to use the latrines.
This is a poem with missing details,
children wiping their eyes clean of debris—
sand crystals falling with powder and shale.
source:poetry.org
Terzanelle
Published by MsJacquiiC
09-18-2006
Terzanelle
The French-Italian rooted TERZANELLE is a 19-line poem consisting of five interlocking triplets plus a concluding quatrain in which the first and third lines of the first triplet appear as refrains. The refrains are the middle lines from the previous stanza used as the last line of the middle stanzas in place of the refrains.
Quote:
Schematic:
1. A
2. B
3. A
4. b
5. C
6. B
7. c
8. D
9. C
10. d
11. E
12. D
13. e
14. F
15. E
16. f
17. A or F
18. F or A
19. A
where "1" through "19" are the numbered lines, "A" through "F" (capital letters) are the repeated refrain, "a" through "f" is the rhyme scheme
Example by Lewis Turco:
*NOTE* the 1st several lines are numbered & lettered for easy schematic reference
Terzanelle in Thunderweather
(1) This is the moment when shadows gather (A)
(2) under the elms, the cornices and eaves. (B)
(3) This is the center of thunderweather. (A)
(4) The birds are quiet among these white leaves (b)
(5) where wind stutters, starts, then moves steadily (C)
(6) under the elms, the cornices, and eaves-- (B)
(7) these are our voices speaking guardedly (c)
(8) about the sky, of the sheets of lightning (D)
(9) where wind stutters, starts, then moves steadily (C)
into our lungs, across our lips, tightening
our throats. Our eyes are speaking in the dark
about the sky, of the sheets of lightening
that illuminate moments. In the stark
shades we inhibit, there are no words for
our throats. Our eyes are speaking in the dark
of things we cannot say, cannot ignore.
This is the moment when shadows gather,
shades we inhibit. There are no words, for
this is the center of thunderweather.
source: http://jpicforum.info/types-of-poetry/terzanelle-805.html
