Last week I created a tetractys page, with how-to and examples. Such a versatile little poetry form. I particularly like the double tetractys, and included a couple of my own variants, including the homonym, and homphone tetractys – but discovered I didn’t have a homograph tetractys. But I do now. You will perhaps recognise numerous clichés, cut and confuddled to create the poem.

Lead Homograph Tetractys
Sometimes it feels like there are lots of empty gongs clanging loudly in life – filling the silence of those who are quietly, consistently putting words into actions. Sometimes my heart sinks like lead, listening…
You can read more about the tetractys under the ‘Whisker of Poetry’ drop-down tab. I think my favourite has to be the ‘War’ homophone tetractys. Perhaps you’d even like write one yourself. Feel free to share in the comments.
This week I’m visiting Alphabet Soup Blog, to kick off the Pass the Book Baton series. I’m responding to Joseph, who says;
I really enjoyed Bully on the Bus and On Track, both verse novels. But you’ve written other books, too. Why did you decide to write those two books as verse novels?”
Click on the link to read that interview. And visit Violet Nesdoly | Poems where you will find all the Poetry Friday links for the week. Enjoy!
** To answer Brenda’s question in the comments, this is how you have some control over the formatting in your comments. By typing this, when it’s posted as a comment it looks like my response to Brenda, below.
Wonderful poem to refresh some cliches. That looks like a hard form, but satisfying if you can get it to work.
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The homograph (homonym or homophone) tetractys makes it a bit of a challenge – but a fun word play, too.
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WP doesn’t let me play with indents or spacing much. I can only put in a concrete poem if it’s centered. Comes out wonky if I try.
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Great tip, thanks Diane. I use Word and screenshot on my Mac, but don’t know if there’s an equivalent on Windows.
Brenda, some formatting tips you might find helpful in WordPress are…
1. type here creates italics in a comment.
type here also works – so you have two italics options.
2. type here creates bold in a comment.
3.
type hereallows you to cross out text for effect.4.
enables the poet
an element of
control
over
the
layout
of the poem
.
5. type here underlines text.
6. type here lets you change the font SIZE.
…..(I think standard font size is 2 or 3.)
** OF COURSE that didn’t work, because it just converted all the code (so you can see how it LOOKS at least) so I will now insert a screenshot into the bottom of the blog post for you, Brenda.
Other codes that you might like to try can be found here; http://en.support.wordpress.com/code
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Brenda, regarding your comment about spacing, if you go to an image editing site (for example, PicMonkey) and type out your poem (with or without an image), you can save it as a jpg and post it that way to preserve your spacing.
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True enough, but then visually impaired people can’t read it. But thanks for that reminder to think outside the blog. 🙂
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Wow Kat – very clever. Off to read your interview.
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Thanks, Sally.
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This challenge reminds me of Margaret’s post about her students trying reversos. Nicely done, Kat!
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Confession. I do have a bit of a reverso in the making, after this tetractys. We shall see…
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I liked seeing your own tetractys, Kat, imagine they are challenging to get just right, but fun to try. The double is really good! Thanks!
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Thanks, Linda. Yep – a fun challenge.
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I love the idea of letting your actions speak louder than your words.
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Me too, Jane
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This looks like fun to try! I’ve bookmarked your instruction page, and am so impressed with your “Lead” homograph with its mirror form and two different uses of “lead.”
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Thank-you, Violet.
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Wow! A double…and with a powerful message. Nice.
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Thanks for the introduction to another new form, Kat. A bit of a puzzler when you add it the homograph aspect, no? Those tabs at the top of your page hide all sorts of goodies!
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It is, Michelle, but I think it’s a bit like those constraints that Julie Larios mentioned in her blog post this week. 🙂
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Terms like “Tetractys,” which I’m not even sure I can pronounce, generally make me glaze over. I’m so happy you’ve provided the explanation of the form and examples.
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I thought you’d be familiar with (and boss of) the tetractys, Diane.
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