Shot Glass Journal is a short poetry journal that focuses on both free verse and form poetry of 16 lines or less. The following are poetic forms that have appeared in Shot Glass Journal.

Glossary of Poetry Forms

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Three quatrains, each composed of alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic dimeter rhyming abab. The form takes its name from the fact that it may also be described as a twelve-line poem with three stanzas made up of six English alexandrines (iambic hexameter), two in each stanza. Each alexandrine is broken into two lines of four and two feet, with alternating rhyme at the ends of those lines.

American Sentences is a form pioneered by Allen Ginsberg. It is an americanized short form as sparse and observational as the haiku although it's 17 syllables run across the page on a single line rather than down the page split into three shorter lines, and it's subject matter includes both human and natural phenomenon.

The Arkquain is comprised of 3 stanzas of 4 lines with a syllable count of 1-2-3-4-5-7-7-5-4-3-2-1. The two 7 syllable lines must rhyme and the first and last line use the same word.

An aphorism expresses a general truth in a pithy sentence.

A found poem where words are crossed out until the poem remains.

A Blues sonnet is an American variation of the traditional sonnet. Written in iambic pentameter it has fourteen lines consisting of four blues stanzas which are rhyming tercets (triplet lines), a volta (a turn or change) after the last tercet, followed by a rhyming heroic couplet. It is derived from the Afro-American tradition of lamentation or complaint in which line two is an incremental repetition of line one and the third line is a climatic parallel.

A fourteen-line French form with 3 quatrains and a couplet. All lines should be equal length - which means syllables are of equal length. The scheme consists of three rhymes and 4-5 un-rhymed lines.

A nine-line syllabic verse of the pattern 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 / 2 / 8 / 6 / 4 / 2.

A short poem, like a tweet, of 140 characters or less.

Demi-sonnets are 7 lines (half a traditional sonnet) and end with a full or slant rhyme. Created by poet Erin Murphy, demi-sonnets tend to be aphoristic and gesture toward a larger narrative or idea.

A Dorsimbra is made up of three stanza with four lines each. Stanza 1 uses 4 lines of Shakespearean sonnet, which is iambic pentameter rhyming abab. Stanza 2 uses 4 short lines of free verse. Stanza 3 uses 4 lines of blank verse, with the last line repeating the 1st line of the 1st stanza.

The following are poetic forms that have appeared in Shot Glass Journal.

A French lyric poetry form that consists of four stanzas. The first and last are identical; the second half of the second stanza is a short refrain, which has as its text the first half of the first stanza.

A poem that is inspired by another art form, such as a painting, sculpture, photograph. The poem defines or describes the artwork.

An epigram is a short poem with a clever twist at the end or a concise and witty statement.

Something which indicates the salient facts about or characteristics of the deceased. Shortened form of the elegy.

Erasure poem is type of found poems that utilize words from an existing text to create a new poem. It is a process by which the poet removes (erases) letters, words or punctuation from the original work. What remains is a new stand-alone poem, one that both complements and gives new meaning to the Erasure Text.

The Ghazal (pronounced "ghuzzle" was developed in Persia in the 10th century AD. It comprises of 5 or more couplets. Each couplet must be a poem in itself. Both lines of the couplet should be of the similar syllable length. Both lines of the first couple must end with the same word or refrain. The second line of all subsequent couplets must end with the same word ending the first couplet. The last couplet could contain an alias or signature of the poet. There can also be a rhyming pattern with the word that precedes the repeated word in the second line of each couplet.

The golden shovel is a poetic form that takes a word from each line of an existing poem and uses it as the last word of each line in a new poem. The form incorporates elements of both erasures and cento poems. Terrance Hayes is credited with inventing the form when he wrote "The Golden Shovel", an homage to the poet Gwendolyn Brooks.

An arrangement of lines into a symmetric grid, subject to the following constraints: each line must fit contextually both across rows and down columns of the grid. In addition, the identity matrix of the poem (left to right diagonal) must read intelligibly. In the 3 x 3 case, this diagonal is formed from lines (1,1) ,(2,2), and (3,3) where (1,1) is the top left line. These three readings should offer new perspectives to the subject of the poem or can be thought of as stanzas nested within the poem itself.

Haibun is a literary composition combining prose and haiku poetry which originated in Japan in the 17th century. Haibun prose can include biography, autobiography, diary, essay, prose poem, travel literature, short story and others, and more than one haiku may be used.

Japanese poetry, usually haiku, that accompanies and compliments a work of art.

A Japanese poem which records the essence of a moment, offering insight into nature and the nature of humanity. Modern English should be brief - with one to three lines totaling 17 syllables or fewer. A haiku of three lines is most common, with usually a short, long, short format. Although the format is not as important. The 5-7-5 syllable count is not required.

Jisei is a poem written by the poet before their own death. These poems reflect the final reflections of one's life. It was generally a tradition with zen monks but were written by poets as well. These poems originated in Japanese, Chinese and Korean cultures as far back as the 7th Century, and can be written in any poetry form, but were traditionally written in tanka or haiku style.

A Kyrielle Sonnet consists of 14 lines (three rhyming quatrain stanzas and a non-rhyming couplet). Just like the traditional Kyrielle poem, the Kyrielle Sonnet also has a repeating line or phrase as a refrain (usually appearing as the last line of each stanza). Each line within the Kyrielle Sonnet consists of only eight syllables.

The Lanturne is a five-line verse shaped like a Japanese lantern with a syllabic pattern of one, two, three, four, one.The poem is center aligned and resembles an oil lantern and thus the name. Rhyming is optional and the form is usually employed to evoke serious thoughts.

A nine-line nonet of 8 syllable lines, with a rhyme scheme of a-a-b-b-c-c-c-b-a..

Mirror Cinquain - two stanza Cinquain sequence of pattern 2-4-6-8-2-9-6-4-2.

A poetic form developed by Michael Walker which has four lines and has a monorhyme scheme. Lines 1 through 3 have 8 syllables and line 4 contains 4 syllables repeated.

Naani is one of the Indian popular Telugu poems. It consists of 4 lines with the total lines consists of 20 to 25 syllables. The poem is not bounded to a particular subject. Generally it depends upon human relations and current statements.

A nonce form is generally created by a poet for a specific poem but which may, over time, and with repeated usage by subsequent poets, become a "received form."

A Nonet is a nine line poem, with the first line containing nine syllables, the next eight, so on until the last line has one syllable. Nonets can be written about any subject, and rhyming is optional.

A one sentence poem is made of a single true, grammatical sentence including correct punctuation and capitalization.

An eight line poem with iambic pentameter.

An Old Spanish verse form (derived from ovillo, a ball of yarn). A stanza consists of 10 lines, with a rhyme scheme of AABBCCCDDC. The second line of each rhyme scheme, Line 2,4,6, is short line of up to 5 syllables. The last line is a "redondilla," a "little round" that collects all three of the short lines.

A Palindromic Cinquain is a Cinquain written as a Palindrome. The Cinquain is a short, usually unrhymed poem consisting of twenty-two syllables distributed as 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, in five lines. The Palindrome is poem with a sequence that is the same forwards and backwards.

The Pantoum is a type of formal verse that is distinguished by cycling refrains. They are written in quatrains, that may be rhymed or unrhymed. The first quatrain consists of four lines. The second quatrain uses the second and fourth lines from the first quatrain as its first and third lines. The second and fourth lines of the second quatrain are new to the poem. The third quatrain uses the second and fourth lines of the second quatrain as its refrains in the first and third line positions. The third quatrain's second and fourth lines are new to the poem. The last line of a pantoum is often the same as the first.

A variant of the Pantoum in which the quatrains follow the pantoum form before the poem closes with a couplet.

The Pantun is a 15th century Malay poetry form that originated as a traditional oral form of expression in the Malay Annals and the Hikayat Hang Tuah. It consists of a quatrain of eight to twelve syllables per line and employs an abab rhyme scheme. The first and second lines can appear disconnected in meaning from the third and fourth, but there is invariably a link of some sort, such as association of ideas or feelings.

Petrarchan sonnet was introduced by 14th century Italian poet Francesco Petrarch. The rhyme scheme of a Petrarchan sonnet features the first eight lines, called an octet, which rhymes as abba–abba–cdc–dcd. The remaining six lines are called a sestet, and might have a range of rhyme schemes.

A 3 stanza form created by James Rasmusson, with the first and third stanza having an equal number of lines and the middle stanza having only one line which acts as a bridge (puente) between the first and third stanza and functions as the ending for the last line of the first stanza and as the beginning for the first line of the third stanza. The first and third stanzas convey a related but different element or feeling.

A 6 line poetry form base on PI = 3.14286. Each line represents the number of words used from the PI number.

A Pleiades has a title with a single word. The poem itself has seven lines. The first word in each line begins with the same letter as the title..

A poem written in prose rather than verse. It can look like a paragraph or fragmented short story but acts like a poem. It works in sentences rather than lines.

A Quandrel is a poem of twelve lines, with the refrain appearing at the start and repeating twice. It differs from a Roundel in that the middle stanza has an additional line. The refrain establishes the second or 'b' rhyme (abaR baba abaR).

The quintrozo is five lines with each line consisting of five words. It was developed teaching poetry to ESL students who sought to readily translate their English poems into their native tongues still preserving the 5 x 5 structure.

A 16-line form composed of four quatrains with eight syllables per line. The first line of stanza becomes the refrain and is repeated as the second line of stanza two, the third line of stanza three and the fourth line of stanza four. The quatern can be rhymed or unrhymed.

A "riddle rhyme" is a riddle written in the form of a poem. It relies on creative use of metaphor, simile, and metonymy using concrete imagery; and imaginative presentation and description of an object or concept.

A lyric poem from the 13th century which is characterized by repeating lines or "rounds". It has 15 lines written as a quintet, quatrain and sestet, with two rhyme schemes.

A 14th Century French lyrical poem. A variation of the Roundeau, it consists of two quatrains followed by a quintet (13 lines total) or a sestet (14 lines total). The first two lines are refrains which repeat at the end of the second and third stanzas. The rhyming pattern is ABba, abAB, abbaA.

The Rondolet is a French form consisting of a single septet with two rhymes and one refrain AbAabbA. The capital letters are the refrains, or repeats. The refrain is written in tetra-syllabic or dimeter and the other lines are twice as long - octasyllabic or tetrameter.

A Roundel is a poetry form created by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909). It is a variation of the French rondeau form. A roundel consists of nine lines each having the same number of syllables, plus a refrain after the third line and after the last line. The refrain must be identical with the beginning of the first line: it may be a half-line, and rhymes with the second line. It has three stanzas and its rhyme scheme is as follows: A B A R ; B A B ; A B A R ; where R is the refrain.

A rhymed couplet with the first consonant of the end word of the first line and the first consonant of the word prior to the end word on the first line is reversed in the second line. The first consonant of the end word becomes the first consonant of the word prior to the end word on the second line.

A sequence of shorter stand-alone verses, typically haiku or tanka, which function both as discrete poems but also as a complete work.

Unrhymed single or multi-stanza sestet with a syllable count of 3-5-3-3-7-5.

A poem of seven lines Lines one to three should contain three connected or contrasting statements, or a list of three details, names or possibilities. This can take up all of the three lines or be contained anywhere within them. Lines four to six should similarly have three elements (statements, details, names, or possibilities) connected directly or indirectly or not at all. The seventh line should act as a narrative summary or punchline or an unusual juxtaposition.

A sonnet with 14 lines consisting of three quatrains and a couplet, with a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg.

The Sijo is a Korean short poetry form the 7th Century. A cousin of Haiku having originated from the Chinese. Three lines of 14-16 syllables totaling 44-46 syllables. Beginning - Line 1 presents a problem. Development - Line 2 develops or "turns" the thought. Conclusion - Line 3 resolves the problem or concludes the theme - surprise turn or twist is a must. A natural pause occurs midway in each line. Each half line should be 6-9 syllables.

Somonka
A Japanese form consisting of two tankas between lovers. The form usually demands two authors, but it is possible to have a poet take on two personas. It can express romantic love as well as love between friends, siblings, parent and child, and so on. The first tanka should be a statement of love and the second a response to that statement.

Sonnenizio
A fusion between a sonnet and a form created by Kim Addonizio. The sonnenizio is 14 lines long. It opens with a line from someone else's sonnet, repeats a word from that line in each succeeding line of the poem, and closes with a rhymed couplet.

Syllabic
Poetic verse having a fixed number of syllables per line whether stressed or not.

Tanka
Tanka consists of 31 onji sounds (or under). It is limited to 5 lines, with the traditional syllabic count usually being 5-7-5-7-7 onji. It is sometimes written in one line, but the more contemporary way of displaying Tanka is in 5 lines.

Tanka Prose
Prose that accompanies a tanka poem, similar to a Haibun which is a narrative that accompanies a haiku.

Tan-ku
Tan-ku is a collaborative form we developed where one poet writes a tanka and the other poet answers with a haiku, or vice versa.

The tan-ku sets consist of one haiku and one tanka, but tan-ku sequences can be written with more links, alternating between the two poets, one writing in tanka and the other writing in haiku, giving the form two distinct poetic voices.

Tan Renga
Tan renga looks like a tanka and works like a renga. In tanka, the image developed in (approximately) a 5-7-5 three-line verse is contrasted to or augmented by a related image in the capping 7-7 two-line conclusion. The resulting juxtaposition produces more meaning than either part could by itself.

In tanka, both sections are written by the same person. In tan renga, the sections are usually written by different people.

Terza Rima
Traditional Italian poetry form. Three line stanza (tercet) using a interlinking chain rhyme. The second line of each tercet is the rhyme scheme for the first and third lines of the next tercet with a rhyme scheme of ABA, BCB, CDC.

Thirteener
A Thirteener is a variation on the sonnet. It consists of 13 lines, each line with 13 syllables.

Three cubed
The three cubed poetry form is a variation of the Triad poetry form. While the triad poem is composed of three stanzas of three lines or three tercets, the Three cubed adds another level in that the stanzas must have exactly three words. The Three cubed shows a rhyming pattern of aaa bbb ccc. However, unlike the Triad, the poem does not have to contain three things but can be about anything at all. The words can have more than one syllable so it is three words and NOT three syllables.

Triadic Couplet
A triadic couplet is a six line poem grouped into three two line stanzas. The three part structure of the poem lends itself to being organised in terms of a dialectical argument, a three act dramatic structure or simply paratactically to contrast three descriptions, thoughts or actions. It can also, more loosely, be used to designate a way of structuring a six line poem.

Triolet
The Triolet has two rhymes and two repeated or refrain lines. The first line is repeated as the fourth, and seventh lines, the second and eighth lines are the same line. Repeated lines 1, 4, and 7 rhyme with lines 3 and 5. Repeated lines 2 and 8 rhyme with line 6.

Tritina
The Tritina has no required meter, but whichever meter or syllable count you do choose, you should stick to it throughout the poem so you can maintain a good rhythm in your poem. The rhyme scheme is based on your selection of three words and follows the pattern of ABC CAB BCA with the final line using all three words to bring the order back to ABC

Tryzub Stanza
Tryzub is the name for the trident symbol on the Ukrainian coat of arms. The stanza has a abab-cde-ab rhyme scheme. The linked form of 3 stanzas has the linked rhyme scheme abab-cde-ab/cdcd-efg-cd/efef-ghi-ef.

Zen Poetry
The traditional format was in four lines of Chinese characters (early Japanese poets also wrote in Chinese) but poetry changed over time to include Tanka, Haiku, and even much longer pieces. Many of most memorable were written in 8 lines such as the Hanshan (Cold Mountain) collection.