Americans Decide Pirouette

Americans Decide Pirouette

Americans decide
What will the future become
Will we be the United States
Or will we end in divorce
Democracy at stake
Democracy at stake
Christian fascism
Or a whites-only state
Civil war 2.0
Everyone must choose sides

The Pirouette is a ten-line form with six syllables per line, rhymed or unrhymed. The catch here is that the fifth line is repeated as the sixth line, which takes the narrative in a completely different direction, as described and demonstrated in the following links:

http://poemsamples.blogspot.com/2014/08/pirouette-is-10-line-poem-with-6.html

PIROUETTE
The pirouette is a 10-line poem with 6 syllables in each line; no rhyme or metric pattern is required. Lines 5 and 6, called "the turn-around," contain the same words in the same order, but the punctuation and capitalization may vary. The turn-around must be sharp, taking the thought in a different, hopefully opposite, direction.

The first example below is from “Our Daily Grind,” a small collection of pirouettes written by Chuck Belcher, creator of the form.

CANDLELIGHT

“Just like the good old days,”
I tell my wide-eyed kids.
“Abraham Lincoln ate
this way, and that is why
we dine by candlelight.”
We dine by candlelight
because the lights were cut.
My wife don’t say nothin’.
If my piece wasn’t hocked,
I’d rob a liquor store.

The second example is contributed by the Blogger.

BARE NECESSITIES
I'm going to see Mom
for a couple of days.
She's still there on the farm.
I'll pack just a few things,
the bare necessities.
The Bare Necessities
is where I strut my stuff
to make a living in
this gawd-forsaken town.
Mom thinks I wait tables.

https://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/2192-forms-unique-to-poetry-styles/#pirou...

The Pirouette is an invented verse form on which I could find no information on its origin or intent. The elements of the Pirouette are:

a decastich, a poem in 10 lines.
syllabic, 6 syllables per line.
L5 is repeated in L6.

unrhymed, although I imagine, rhyme could be at the discretion of the poet.

Pirouette

Ballerina on point
dances with swanlike grace,
disciplined artistry,
a moment of kindling,
spinning round and around.

Spinning round and round
the earth circles the sun
within designed constraint
while we stumble, untrained,
through the spiral of time.


This poetic form was named after the classic ballet move: https://www.britannica.com/art/pirouette-ballet

pirouette, (French: “to whirl about”), ballet turn in place on one leg. The pirouette is often done in spectacular series, in which women usually perform on toe (pointe) and men on the ball of the foot (demi-pointe). In a pirouette Sur le coup-de-pied, the raised foot rests on the supporting ankle; in a pirouette à la second, or grande pirouette, it is extended in the second position at a 90° angle to the supporting leg. The leg may be held at the front (attitude), side (à la second, or grande pirouette), or back (arabesque and attitude). The body may turn toward the raised leg (en dehors: “outside,” or “backward”) or the supporting leg (en dedans: “inside,” or “forward”). Four and five pirouettes are now commonly performed, and up to 14 have been executed by 20th-century dancers.