Showing posts with label Quatrains. Show all posts

Sunday, August 09, 2026

Poetry from A to Z

VII. Alphabetic Trails

Abecedarian Sextet

All bananas can't' do everything.
Formulas give help in judging.
Keeping loving men noticing.
Only perfectionists quickly revise.
Settled truces universally valued.
Worried xenophobe yells zilch.

From ABCED ... VWXYZ

At the beginning	After the end
Before the end	Before the beginning
Caught in the middle	Compromised splits
Divided in between	Discovering emptiness
Everything disolves	Empezar de Nuevo

For the Record	From that day
Giving it away	Gaining respect
Happy I'd say	Hands on right
Inner work done	Innocent delights
Just keeping on	Joining others now

Kicked out hate	Kissed my mate
Lucked out	Left quite late
Mesmerized	Many times
Not surprised	Not compromised
Oh why	On time

People pursued	Pursuers persisted
Quite exhausted	Quantities stolen
Really afraid	Running away
Slowly relaxing	Secure home
Troubles gone	Treasures reborn

Uu Uu abcdefghijklm	uU uU nopqrstuvwxyz
Very clearly	Virtouosly so
With a Changing Key	Wechselndem Schlüssel
Xmas comes	Xanthia goes
You think you know	Your known

Zany at times	Zendo zone

- Compare with:
See also Paul Celan, Index of Titles A-Z.
Bob Perelman, An Alphabet of Literary History.
Harryette Mullen, Blah-Blah, and Jingle Jangle.

Emperzar de Nuevo = Begin Again/New

Wechselndem Schlüssel = With a Changed Key

BU 3614, 4011, 4413

Poetry by Mike Garofalo

25 Steps and Beyond: Collected Poetry

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Activities I Do Everyday

39. Fourteen Acts I Do Everyday at 8o Years of Age

Get Up, Stand, Move; Plan
Eat breakfast; Think
Talk with my wife; Listen
Read; Reflect
Tend to our garden; Smile

Write, Web Publish, Journal; Analyze
Enjoy Walking; Encourage Others

Do some Yoga or Tai Chi; Study Sages
Do Household Chores; Clear Mind
Eat Lunch and/or Dinner; Gratitude
Clean my Body, Drink Water; Purify
Socialize; Communicate for Peace

Mind My Own Business; Summarize
Sleep; Dream

53. Write Sonnets and Quintains

SM8 Sonnet Model 8

Garofalo Sonnet Form

5 2 5 2 = 14 Lines

Quintain Couplet Quintain Couplet

The Couplets are often connected thematically with each other.

Can be rhymed verse, blank verse, or free verse.

Typographically, mostly Left Justied; but with some variations in identation, spacing, layout.

Makes free use of punctuation.

Some use of hypertext and reference links.

A Google drop-down Translation Menu. Read the webpage in over 50 different languages.

Many of these Sonnets are cellphone readable with ease. However, due to the limitations on the width of the lines on a cellphone screen, these Sonnets can appear to be 28 to 45 lines long. Viewed on a larger desktop screen, the same Sonnet can been seen as just 14 lines. Consequently, this cellphone line length limitation affects the writing style.

Examples in The Gushen Grove Sonnets: #1, # 2, #4, #9.

The Gushen Grove Sonnets. By Mike Garofalo.

Quintains, Pentastich, and Tankas. By Mike Garofalo. Over 750 Quintains.

Tercets, Haiku, Senryu. By Mike Garofalo. Over 1,000 Tercets.

Pulling Onions. By Mike Garofalo. Over 1,000 One-Liners, Quips, Epigrams.

Poetry Research. By Mike Garofalo. Bibliography, Links, Notes, Reviews, Commentary, Research.

Sonnet Poetry Research. By Mike Garofalo. Bibliography, Links, Notes, Reviews, Commentary, Research.

Quintain Poetry Research. By Mike Garofalo. Bibliography, Links, Notes, Reviews, Commentary, Research.

Saturday, May 17, 2025

Stepping Over Epiphanies

Stepping Over Epiphanies

By Michael Peter Garofalo

Affecting all the molecules in me
the pull of the moon and sea
feeling the call to walk the shore
Smiled, opened the door

Tides and time sent signals to me
to step nimbly over epiphanies
seen flipped over in the turning sands
Surprised, opened my hands

Waiting for nobody but me
a fleck of cold fire
flung out on this fleck of space
Sang out, loved this place

Shore pines paint a background scene
short stubby crooked trees
swaying gently in the salty breeze
Unruffled, I found tranquility

Stunned by the crisp clean colors
savoring the scents of the sea
enchanted by the incessant singing surf
Awakened, calming reveries

Pointing to the ineffable realization of
insights known to me alone
erupted up from our sensory realities
Profound, not foreknown

Such awakenings come and go
sometimes fast or sometimes slow
unpredictable visions playing peekaboo
Pausing, not thinking too

Slogging up and down the dunes
breathing hard on Que
one step up, a half-step back
Stopping, quite a view

A romantic couple passes me
by on the thin path through sea grass;
we nod, mumble "hello", step aside,
Thinking, will love last

What I see is painted by me
created for free in a brain for me
sucked from the breasts of reality
Pondering, reality or illusory

I practiced outside today
the Practice of the Outside Way
I figured a a few things out
Understanding, what Place's say

Tip toeing over bull kelp strands
stepping on broken shells
avoiding the driftwood piles ever moving
Listening, a virtual foghorn knells

A friendly dog off-leash comes to me
seeking a gentle pat and pet
desiring a kind human face to see
Laughing, she was wet

My grand daughter and I once walked
beside an Oregon dune
not very long ago it seemed to us
Remembering, gone too soon