The pantoum form originated in Malaya. In English writing the iambic pentameter is frequently used but no set rythm is laid down. Alternate rhyme is used throughout, but the second line of any verse becomes the first line of the next, while its rhyming line, the fourth, becomes the third next time. In each new verse, two new rhyming lines are introduced as the second and fourth lines, except for the last verse which harks back to the third line of the first verse for its second line and the first line of the whole poem is repeated as the last line, giving circularity to the whole thing. There is no set number of verses.

I first came across the form describing the bustle of a medieval village fair and thought then how appropriate the form was for describing crowd scenes as the eye, while scanning the scene keeps being drawn back to something interesting it has seen already.

It appears that some people are confused by the term "Bank Holiday". This is the term, used throughout the UK, for what the rest of the world refers to as a "public holiday".

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