Welcome to the first "Form becomes function" column. While this is not going to be a regular-scheduled column like "The Electronic Fringe", I hope to have new installments of this column up around twice a month if I can. If you want to participate and practice the form amongst your peers, then feel free to contribute a piece of work as a comment to this article and as a group, we can discuss the form in more detail. Anyway, on with the article.

A Malayan form. Accentual-syllabic. Lines can be of any single length in any particular meter. A pantoum consists of an indefinite number of quatrain stanzas with particular restrictions: lines two and four of each stanzas, in their entirety are repetons-- they become lines one and three of the following stanza, and so on. The rhyme scheme is interlocking if you care to employ a rhyme scheme.

The poem can be ended in one of three ways: either in a quatrain whose repetons are lines one and three of the first stanza in reversed order along with new lines or with the 2 and 4 from the second last line, or in a repeton couplet consisting of line one and three of the first stanza in reversed order,. The pattern for a four-stanza poem would be:

abcd bedf egfh- ca or ciaj or gcha


A traditional pantoum:

The Eunuch Cat

She went to work until she grew too old,
Came home at night to feed the eunuch cat
That kept the mat warm and its eyeballs cold.
She walked, but ran to wrinkles, then to fat,

Came home at night to feed the eunuch cat,
Then went to bed, slept dreamlessly till eight,
And waked. She ran to wrinkles, then to fat.
She fixed her supper, snacked till it was late,

Then went to bed, slept dreamlessly till eight---
Must I go on? She'll feed the cat no more.
She fixed her supper, snacked till it was late,
Then died at dawn, just halfway through a snore.

Must I go on? --She'll feed the cat no more
To keep the mat warm and its eyeballs cold.
She died at dawn, just halfway through a snore;
She went to work until she grew too old.
-W.Court

And two that are little less constrained by the form:

Pantoum

Eyes shining without mystery,
Footprints eager for the past
Through the vague snow of many clay pipes,
And what is in store?

Footprints eager for the past,
The usual obtuse blanket.
And what is in store
For those dearest to the king?

The usual obtuse blanket?
Of legless regrets and amplifications
For those dearest to the king.
Yes, sirs, connoisseurs of oblivion,

Of legless regrets and amplifications,
That is why a watchdog is shy.
Yes, sirs, connoisseurs of oblivion,
These days are short, brittle; there is only one night.

That is why a watchdog is shy,
Why the court, trapped in a silver storm, is dying.
These days are short, brittle; there is only one night
And that soon gotten over.

Why, the court, trapped in a silver storm, is dying!
Some blunt pretense to safety we have
And that soon gotten over
For they must have motion.

Some blunt pretense to safety we have:
Eyes shining without mystery
For they must have motion
Through the vague snow of many clay pipes.
-John Ashbery

Movin' with Nancy

It is almost time to grow up
I eat my TV dinner and watch
Nancy Sinatra in 1966
All boots and blonde hair

I eat my TV dinner and watch
The daughter of Frank Sinatra
All boots and blonde hair
She appears on "The Ed Sullivan Show"

The daughter of Frank Sinatra
She sings "These Boots are Made for Walkin'"
She appears on "The Ed Sullivan Show"
The song becomes a number one hit

She sings "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'"
She sings "Somethin' Stupid" with her father
The song becomes a number one hit
She marries and divorces singer/actor Tommy Sands

She sings "Somethin' Stupid" with her father
She sings "The Last of the Secret Agents"
She marries and divorces singer/actor Tommy Sands
She sings "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?"

She sings "The Last of the Secret Agents"
She sings "Lightning's Girl" and "Friday's Child"
She sings "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?"
She sings "Love Eyes" and "Sugar Town"

She sings "Lightning's Girl" and "Friday's Child"
She puts herself in the hands of writer/producer Lee Hazelwood
She sings "Love Eyes" and "Sugar Town"
She co-stars with Elvis Presley in Speedway

She puts herself in the hands of writer/producer Lee Hazelwood
Three gold records later
She co-stars with Elvis Presley in Speedway
She rides on Peter Fonda's motorcycle

Three gold records later
She has developed an identity of her own
She rides on Peter Fonda's motorcycle
The wild angels roar into town

She has developed an identity of her own
Nancy Sinatra in 1966
The wild angels roar into town
Its almost time to grow up.
-David Trinidad

I prefer the last one... though length is something you have to look out for, as if it is too long, it can get very difficult to keep it interesting and fresh... so I would recommend you do the minimum the first time, and keep it to 4 stanzas... and then build from there. Enjoy.