How does somebody create a new poetic form?
A. As poets, sometimes we conform to someone else s standard, as when we write a sonnet. Other times we invent a new structure for a given situation and poem. If we codify the rules of the new form, find a name for it, reuse it, and share the form definition with other formalists who use it, it becomes a new form. If we only use the form once, don t write down the rules, or if no other poets get excited by it, the form is just a nonce form, meaning used once. In my own work, I ve found at least three ways to create new poetry forms. • Make something up for a specific poetic occasion. Form follows function, and sometimes I find I’ve created a form that is reusable when writing a specific poem. • Variate on a theme. As an example, I have no rhythm, so have great difficulty with accentual-syllabic forms, such as the sonnet. Given this, I created my own form of sonnet, the sonondilla, that is purely syllabic by definition. Of course, I didn’t have to do that given that the French also prod
