Le Voyage Magnifique

The Sha'ir or Syair or Sjair from 17th century, Malysia, is a poetic narrative that not only tells the human story, often in romantic adventures but also expounds on local conflict and gives religious instruction. Because this form originated in a maritime trading center, the characters are often cosmopolitan. Shorter versions are known to use birds, fish, animals in allegory. The form originally performed, presenters would sit before an audience with an open book and sing the verses out loud.

The elements of the Sha'ir are:
1. metric, accentual, folk meter often using 4 stresses with the beginning syllable stressed and ending in an unstressed syllable. More important than stress is, all lines should be similar length.
2. stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains.
3. mono-rhymed. aaaa bbbb cccc etc
4. used to communicate romantic adventures, local conflicts, allegories and religious instructions.

~ Judi Van Gorder

1 Like • Comment

1. 15 lines.
2. For those not familiar with the Rondeau form of poetry, a description and examples can be found at the following link:
http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/rondeau.html

Like • Comment

Mondo poems are often very brief collaborative affairs that present a question and answer in the style of trying to glean meaning from nature. Mondos can be as short as a one-liner or as long as two 5-7-7 syllable stanzas (the first stanza presenting the question; the second the answer).

For this round, your poems need to follow the two stanza rule, please.

So, in summary,

2 stanzas
syllable counts for each stanza: 5-7-7
nature related

Example:

Untitled
by Robert Lee Brewer

why do winter stars
shine brighter than summer stars
and why do i notice them?

i can't hear them laugh,
but i remember the way
they once entered the darkness.

1 Like • Comment