Massachusetts Statewide Poetry Calendar

Traditional or “received” forms give poets the opportunity to practice technique, to work within an established scaffolding. We tune our ears to meter and rhythmic patterns that, once set up, are expected. So many forms to explore! We’ll start simply, define and try, limericks, acrostics, abcderians, haikus, tankas and move on to read sonnets, sestinas and villanelles. Perhaps once we know the pattern, we can learn to break the form like Robert Frost did in “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”.