SQUARE POEMS

When I was doing my MA at Goldsmiths, one of our mentors, the poet Jacob Sam-La Rose, encouraged us to invent our own poetic forms. This is an example of my poetic form, the 'square poem'. Here are the rules:

(1) the first line and the last line must be the same
(2) the first word in each line, when read downwards, must be the same as the first and last lines
(3) the last word in each line, when read downwards, must be the same as the first and last lines
(4) punctuation can be altered, and homonyms and homophones are allowed

It is very hard to get a half way decent poem out of this, but that doesn't mean you can't try. Here is my model example:

Square Poem

I am a square poem. I

am boring and nerdy. I am

a complete nonentity – a

square box of air. A square

poem? Is that even a poem?

I am a square poem. Aye!

Do you think you can do a square poem? If you write one in the comments section of this blog post, I will choose the best one and send you a free copy of my new book - I Don't Like Poetry.

Get writing!