Let’s be honest: poetry gets a bad rep. We here at Bookstr think it’s about time that changed! After all, any art style comes down to personal preference! Someone might love sculptures but hate paintings — yet they’re both considered visual art. Determined to change the conversation around poetry, we looked around and found seven obscure poetry types that just might change your preconceived notions about this genre.
Palindrome
As the title implies, palindrome poetry involves mirroring the language within the poem. The second half repeats the same language as the first half — but in reverse order. In the exact middle of the poem, a bridge word links the two halves together. What makes this style especially difficult to master is coming up with a sequence of words that still makes sense when read in either direction.
Reflections by Lynne C. Fadden
Life-
imitates nature,
always moving, traveling continuously.
Falling leaves placed delicately;
foliage touching the echoing waters,
clarity removed –
Reflections distorted through waves rippling;
gracefully dancing
mirrored images
– reflect –
images mirrored.
Dancing gracefully,
rippling waves through distorted reflections –
removed clarity.
Waters echoing the touching foliage;
delicately placed leaves falling –
continuously traveling, moving always,
nature imitates
life.
Reflections, Fadden (2002)
This example by the poet Lynne C. Fadden expertly demonstrates the potential within this art form. In this particular poem, the bridge word reflect acts almost as the surface of the water in her imagery.
Tricube
Introduced by the writer Phillip Larrea, tricube poetry has a strict yet simple format. All you have to remember is three by three: three syllables, three lines, and three stanzas. Thankfully, there are no limitations for rhyme or meter. As long as each line only contains three syllables, you’re good to go.
TriCube #1 by Phillip Larrea
Don’t swallow
the whole pie.
Just a bite.
Platitudes
amplified—
Certitude.
What is left
is not right.
But remains.
TriCube #1, Larrea (2000s)
Similar to haiku — another meticulous syllable/line count poetry style — tricube poetry encourages writers to be intentional with language. Many can be skeptical of shorter poems, but as the proverb states, sometimes less is more.
Cento
Cento is basically the fanfiction of poetry styles. These poems are amalgamations of other pieces of poetry. In other words, the writer pulls phrases from one or more poems and assembles them in a Frankenstein fashion to create new work. Any writers interested in experimenting with cento should exercise caution. By design, this style tiptoes along the barrier of plagiarism. Sources should be credited in the title or by providing an explicit list accompanying the poem. An example of the latter can be found here.
Freud’s War by Emily Berry
I became a therapist against my will
A strange feeling of forlornness, a feeling I could not have stood
Painful isolation, quite steep and slanting
A beautiful forest which had the one drawback of seeming never to end
I have had to struggle so long
I have always been frank with you, haven’t I?
I wanted to explain the reason for my inaccessibility
I am lying here on a short leash in this filthy hole
So far I haven’t been locked up
Several people point to gaps in my face where the little girl has been cut out
She screams and screams without any self-control
Ravaged by the heat and the blood-&-thunder melodrama
Neither describable nor bearable
I felt I had known her all my life
Freud’s War, Berry (2015)
This particularly poignant piece by Emily Berry pulls from Sigmund Freud’s speeches rather than fellow poets. The cento style has been compared to collages, and we see that at play here. Using Freud’s contentious words on the human psyche creates a new layered and tragic monologue.
Diminishing Verse
This poetry style has the most freedom of any in this list. There is only one rule: remove the first letter of the previous line’s end word. (A slight variation of this is to remove one sound.) Diminishing verse is a playful twist on traditional rhyming schemes.
The Riots of Spring by Adam Astra
As the thunder churns, as the lightning cleaves,
The nestlings cower in the quaking leaves;
The spider’s web quivers beneath the eaves.
But soon the red fox will doze in the clover;
The monarch will settle on its yellow-petaled lover;
The riots of spring will be over.
The Riots of Spring, Astra (2019)
Though it’s not an explicit rule of diminishing verse, most iterations of this poetry type only contain three-line stanzas. This style may provide freedom with syllable count, meter, and length, but the limitations at its heart still require intentional word choice.
Mondo
Mondo is a short Q&A poetry type with a specific focus on nature. The first portion of the poem presents a question, and the second half provides the answer. Mondos can be as short as one line and tend to have a philosophical lean.
Untitled by Robert Lee Brewer
why do winter stars
shine brighter than summer stars
and why do i notice them?
i can’t hear them laugh,
but i remember the way
they once entered the darkness.
Untitled, Brewer (2017)
Mondo may be simplistic, but its impact is mighty. The call-and-response approach of the poem tugs at the reader’s senses. This example by Robert Lee Brewer presents a beautiful and transformative metaphor.
Tautogram
A tautogram is alliteration on steroids. To write in this style, every word in the poem must start with the same letter. That’s right! Every. Single. Letter.
Seared Sunrise by FJ Thomas
Strength sparce, shattered self-esteem
Should she shout, should she scream
Stunned she sat, spirit suddenly shorn
Should she show said ‘spouse’s scorn’
Sorrow’s sting submerges, silence surrounds, sanity slips
Splintered, she seeks satisfaction searching spite’s sinking ships
Seared Sunrise, Thomas (2022)
This poem by writer FJ Thomas shows the potential within this style. The repetitive sound couples perfectly with the desperation throughout the poem. Experiment with tautograms to discover how many emotions linger in each sound!
Blackout Poems
This last poetry style is a fun combination of writing and visual art! Blackout poems involve taking a black marker and a piece of text (newspaper, book page, etc.) and redacting words until you create a poem. The visual aspect of this type provides an opportunity to be selective about where the final words in the poem appear on the page.
Click here to view some phenomenal examples by writer Austin Kleon.
If you’re craving some artistic expression but you’re sick of paint nights, try blackout poems! This poetry form is a great way to get some use out of any old, damaged books that might be lying around the house.
Who knew that there were so many types of poetry? Turns out there are even more styles than what ended up on our list — in fact, there are over 100! If you want to browse for more, check out this comprehensive guide from Writer’s Digest. Happy writing!
To explore other types of poetry, click here.
Visit our Poetry bookshelf on Bookshop.org for more poetry inspiration.
