Exceptional A Pantoum Pantoum Collection : The Boobook Owl by tfawcus

The Boobook owl kills silently, her shadowed silver silhouette suggested in the ghost gum tree, her whisper close to flight and yet her shadowed silver silhouette stays poised. She waits for swaying sedge, her whisper close to flight and yet her prey, alert at water's edge, stays poised. She waits for swaying sedge reflected by the hunter's moon. Her prey, alert at water's edge, will make her fateful movement soon, reflected by the hunter's moon. A wraith with staring hooded eye will make her fateful movement soon, her talons piercing death's small cry! A wraith with staring hooded eye suggested in the ghost gum tree, her talons piercing death's small cry, the Boobook owl kills silently. Recognized Earned A Seal Of Quality Author Notes The Boobook is Australia's smallest owl. When I was teaching years ago near Mt Gambier in the south-east of South Australia, one used to sit outside my soldier settlement farmhouse window in a ghost gum overlooking a water meadow full of croaking frogs. I composed this pantoum after reading CrystalCookie999's, Denhagan's and Adewpearl's recent and most accomplished examples of the form. The pantoum is derived from a Malay verse form. It is similar to a villanelle in that there are repeating lines throughout the poem. Ideally, the meaning of lines shifts when they are repeated although the words remain exactly the same. The 2nd and 4th lines of each stanza are repeated as the 1st and 3rd lines of the next. Additionally, to complete the circularity, the 1st and 3rd lines of the poem become the 2nd and 4th lines of the last stanza. My composition uses five quatrains of iambic tetrameter. © Copyright 2024. tfawcus All rights reserved. tfawcus has granted FanStory.com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.