Wish you were drinking cafe in Paris, writing ever-so-wonderful poetry in your journal while you wear your beret? Get a little taste of the writer’s life by trying your hand at a French pantoum. Feel oo la la and tres intelligent by using this pattern to turn simple phrases into a surprisingly good poem.

Send me your results and I will put them all up in a virtual poetry reading post — with a link to your own website or blog, bien sur! You can reach me at urbanabbess at monkfish-abbey dot org [new address: moi at magpie-girl dot com].

Many thanks to Christine Valters Paintner at Sacred Center for introducing me to this art-as-spiritual-practice technique.

French Pantoum

STANZA 1

Line1:___________________________________________________________

Line 2: ___________________________________________________________

Line 3: __________________________________________________________

Line 4:____________________________________________________________

STANZA 2

Line 5 (repeat of line 2 in stanza 1):

___________________________________________________________________

Line 6 (new line):

______________________________________________________________________

Line 7 (repeat of line 4 in stanza 1):

______________________________________________________________________

Line 8 (new line):

______________________________________________________________________

STANZA 3

Line 9 (repeat line 6 of the previous stanza):

______________________________________________________________________

Line 10 (repeat line 3 of the first stanza):

______________________________________________________________________

Line 11 (repeat line 8 of the previous stanza):

______________________________________________________________________

Line 12 (repeat line 1 of the first stanza):

______________________________________________________________________