Albert's Poetry Cafe ~ 'More Poetic Forms' with Helena THE GLOSA!  March 21, 2010 - April 14, 2010

Author's Note
The form used is called a Glosa. The Glosa is a Spanish form, also called Mote or Retruecano, and it is closely related to the cantiga.

The Glosa consists of a quatrain (a 4-line stanza), called a cabeza, followed by four ten-line stanzas where the last line of each stanza is a line of the originating cabeza in order. The cabeza is written by another poet or author; and is credited to that author. Lines of the glosa may be of any legnth, howvere, the sixth and ninth lines of each of the ten-line stanzas must rhyme with the "borrowed" tenth line.

So, the form runs:

Quatrain from another author:
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4
Credit to originating author

Ten-line stanza written by you, rhyming:
A/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/F/F, with the last line being line 1 of the original quatrain. Each subsequent ten-line stanza then takes the next line of the quatrain, and uses the same rhyme scheme. Please note, while only lines 6, 9 and 10 are required to rhyme, the use of rhyme for the other lines is encouraged.

Here is an example:

I Imagine A Day
A Poem by Raivenne

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
"Imagine” - John Lennon/Imagine


We walk down these busy roads
Each step met with some disdain
Yet we move along through the goad
For we’re still walking harsh terrain
We’ve made a choice in this workload
Not for the grind of the office screamer
We work with those whose hands lay
In not hiding what is during the day
Some may say I’m a schemer,
You may say I'm a dreamer


I was once completely battered
By words that should have been balm
Stung as my feelings hardly mattered
And all along I felt as tender
As a crystal ready to be shattered
Feels like I’m living a life undone
Pieces of my soul I imagine crying
With the all senseless lying
Built upon the company jargon
But I'm not the only one


Feeling the need to get it in gear,
Tired of being the ones just waiting
Let us get a few things clear
It’s time for action, no more debating,
Who else has had it up to here?
What’s with our happiness being zealous?
Why can’t we spread word of our joy?
Just another face as love’s envoy?
Yes, we’re causing more than a fuss,
I hope someday you'll join us


Even knowing it’s a hard road to tread
I rather be weary with the fight for reason
For the company line leaves me emotionally dead
And I just can’t live with the social treason,
So, tell me, where do you wish this world head?
Someday we’ll walk in peace under the sun
When the seeds of tolerance to bloom into reality
And there is a fighting chance for us you’ll see
For only then we’ll say our work is done
And the world will be as one

© 2010 Raivenne

Helena

Banora Point, N.S.W., Australia

8 Contestants
8 Submissions
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Created Mar 21, 2010