by Kerry Michael Wood

Created on: May 16, 2007   Last Updated: October 08, 2008

A pantoum is a Malaysian verse form involving a schematized repetition. In its loosest form, it involves a series of quatrains or four-line stanzas rhymed abab. Lines 2 and 4 of the first quatrain become lines 1 and 2 of the next quatrain, and that pattern recurs with each succeeding quatrain. The extended rhyme scheme therefore becomes abab bcbc cdcd and so on. The poem is completed when the initial rhymes of the opening quatrain appear as the second and final lines of the final quatrain, xaxa. Thus a pantoum's concluding line is the same as it first line.

The repetition of not just rhyming words but entire lines in the first and third stanzas of succeeding quatrains establishes a pattern that casts the new information of the second and fourth lines into sharp relief. The concluding quatrain's repetition of lines one and three of the total poem (placed in reverse order in my example) makes for a sense of closure that adds extra meaning to those lines.

As with so many verse forms, the pantoum's strictures are often relaxed. Rhyming end words are frequently done away with necessitating the use of numbers instead of letters to indicate the pattern. For instance, a 16-line pantoum would be 1234 2345 5678 7381. You may wish to look at Joyce Carol Oates's Welcome to Dallas!, a 44-line pantoum with a couplet conclusion. (It's too long to insert and I am unable to locate a URL to which I can link.) In her notes, Oates says the pantoum is "marvelously suited for conveying extreme states of mind - mania, paranoia, delusion. . . . If successful, the pantoum comes across as a comic form. Its gravity, even its tragedy is transmuted into comedy."

I shall share my poetic rendition of one day at an ordinary American high school. IThe occasion was an Armed Forces Day presentation. Ironically, the military with all its equipment, armaments and combat training found itself victimized in a minor way by an unidentifiable antagonist that schools and individual teachers deal with daily.

On a sunny spring day here at Woodside,

The Armed Forces put on a display.

Since everyone longed to be outside,

We excused kids from class for that day.

The Armed Forces put on a display.

There were tanks, trucks, and guns on the field.

We excused kids from class for that day

To show how a war zone must feel.

There were tanks, trucks, and guns on the field

Some M.P.'s demonstrated their skill

To show how a war zone must feel.

And some kid swiped a .45 pistol.

Some M.P.'s demonstrated their skill.

And the students all clustered around,

And some kid swiped a .45 pistol

From a case that was placed on the ground.

And the students all clustered around,

Distracting the soldiers' attention

From a case that was placed on the ground.

And now some kid faces suspension.

Distracting the soldiers' attention

One kid nipped in and ripped off a gun,

And now some kid faces suspension

But no one knows who is the one.

One kid nipped in and ripped off a gun.

Since everyone longed to be outside,

But no one knows who is the one.

On a sunny spring day here at Woodside,

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