Palindrome Poetry (or Mirror Poem): Poetic Forms
Learn how to write palindrome poetry or the mirror poem, including rules for writing this poetic form and an example poem.
Just when I thought I'd run into one of the crazier poetic forms in the paradelle (click to read Poetic Form: Paradelle), I tried my hand at the palindrome poem, which I think is much more difficult.
Rules for writing palindrome poetry:
- You must use the same words in the first half of the poem as the second half, but
- Reverse the order for the second half, and
- Use a word in the middle as a bridge from the first half to the second half of the poem.
At first, the simplicity of the rules made me feel like this would be easy enough to do, but I ran into problems almost immediately. For instance, you can't start the poem with the word "the" unless you plan to end the poem on the word "the." And just because something makes sense in the first half doesn't guarantee it'll pass the same test on the way back.
*****
Play with poetic forms!
Poetic forms are fun poetic games, and this digital guide collects more than 100 poetic forms, including more established poetic forms (like sestinas and sonnets) and newer invented forms (like golden shovels and fibs).
*****
Here's my attempt at a palindrome poem:
"Witches burn," Robert Lee Brewer
Gypsies tell girls,
"Witches burn candles,"
and laugh. Cats
jump fences.
Shadows cast spells in
darkness
in spells cast shadows.
"Fences jump, cats laugh,
and candles burn witches,"
girls tell gypsies.
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
