Poetry Place Collected Poems

Trump retorune Poetry Place

Trump retorune Poetry Place

the former U.S. president
the deep state is out to get me
sounding more and more paranoid
Americans beginning to just say “Meh”


the deep state is out to get me
is out to get him because reasons
it is a vast conspiracy
everyone is out to get him


sounding more and more paranoid
like an ancient John Bircher
or like Lydon La Rouche
just another lunatic on the street

Americans beginning to just say “Meh”
except for millions in his cult
who believes he is anointed by God
to defeat the radical Marxists




The Retourne is an old French form constructed in four quatrains. Each line of the first quatrain becomes the first line of each subsequent quatrain, in order, as described in the following links:

https://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1956-retourne/

The Retourne, (Latin - retorn=return), like much French verse from the Middle Ages is written with a refrain. However unlike verse of that same period, it is unrhymed which makes it suitable for short narratives.
The elements of the Retourne are:
1. a poem in 16 lines, made up of 4 quatrains.
2. syllabic, 8 syllable lines.
3. written with a tumbling refrain. The lines of the first stanza provide an opening refrain for the ensuing stanzas. xABC Axxx Bxxx Cxxx.
4. unrhymed.
French Flare by Judi Van Gorder

In Middle Ages fraught with forms
the French were known to write with flare.
But search in books and search on-line,
an old Retourne is hard to find.
The French were known to write with flare,
lines repeated and expanded,
a poem measured four by four,
octo-syllabic lines unrhymed.
But search in books and search on-line
no one it seems did take the time
to record sixteen lines in frame
to display a tumbling refrain.
An old Retourne is hard to find,
The form explained is everywhere
sans example from the masters
so humbly I offer my own.


https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/nurtured-by-nature-a-retourne/

Rhyming is not required, but can be added, as in https://classicalpoets.org/2020/03/22/carmen-cygni-a-retourne-by-mike-bryant/