Dancing Words

I skidded into June without even tapping the brakes. Time seems to slip through my fingers the further I travel down the road. I decided to take a pit stop at the poetic form called a Dansa. This style of poetry, known as an Occitan (the official language of Catalonia) form with no set meter. This lyrical poetry style comes from the Occitan words for “to dance.” This Dansa Poem I called Dancing Words.

Guidelines for writing a Dansa Poem and Dancing Words

*Opening quintain (Or five-line stanza) followed by quatrains (or four-lined stanzas)

*The opening line of the first stanza is the final line of every stanza

*Rhyme scheme in the opening stanza: AbbaA (Capitol represents the refrain

*Rhyme scheme in the other stanzas: bbaA

There are no other rules.

Note: I will also be adding Black Out Poems as we go along the way. I plan to keep using this style until the book I’m using runs out of pages for me to play with to create these unique and visual poems. I’m excited about jogging down this road.

Dancing Words

Words dancing on the page
Filtering and flying like a tiny bird
Sometimes clear, sometimes blurred
Sometimes filled with a frantic rage
Words dancing on the page

Movement between stanzas so absurd
Like robins on an electric wire stirred
Disturbed into a frightening outrage
Words dancing on a page

The funniest story I’ve ever heard
Heavy steps stumble and slurred
So much passion on life’s stage
Words dancing on the page

The movement to a mystery is preferred
Whispered from the beak of a mockingbird
Ideas escaped from a gilded cage
Words dancing on the page

Who is Molly Shea?

Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh.  To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.

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