Table of contents for Lewis Turco’s book of odd and invented forms.

Lewis Turco. Image via Wikipedia

Lewis Turco, poet and author of The Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics, has put together another no-doubt essential manuscript on odd and invented poetic forms.  I have gotten emails from him since interviewing him a couple years ago for Poets & Writers; last Saturday, he emailed the following table of contents to his list.  I asked if I could publish it.  He said it was cool.  Here’s a pdf version in case you’re curious what typeface Turco uses (Verdana).

He’s looking for a publisher. I don’t see any reason why shouldn’t be published, like, right now. But then again, I’m the guy who’s been working on a sestina anthology for five years.

THE BOOK OF ODD AND INVENTED FORMS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Anglo-Saxon Prosody
“The Blacksmiths,” Anonymous Middle English poet
“For a Wordy Lady,” Lewis Turco
Bues Sonnet
“Envoi in a Boneyard,” Wesli Court
“The Odd Oak Tree,” Alice L. Teeter
Bob and Wheel
Excerpt from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Anonymous Medieval poet
Bref Double
“Caritas et Amor,” Alfred Nicol
Carmina Figurata
“Carousel,” Jan D. Hodge
“The View from Khufu’s Tongue,” Walter H. Kerr
“Climbing the Tower at Piza,” Richard Frost
“Town Square,” Lewis Turco
Carol Sonnet
“The Falcon Carol,” Wesli Court
Cento
“Approaching a Significant Birthday, He Peruses The Norton Anthology of Poetry,” R. S. Gwynn
“Night Thoughts, A Patchwork,” Ruth F. Harrison
“The Amherst Fire,” Lewis Turco
Clang
“Ode to the Head of English,” Llewelyn Nicholas
“Prawn Madras,” Caroline Gill
Conditionelle
Untitled examples by David B. Axelrod
Confutatione
“Mon Coeur,” Lewis Turco
Curtal Sonnet
“Fried Beauty,” R. S. Gwynn
Dada Prosody
“Panthers, Not You’re Free Arizona Go Black New So Fast, 14, 2010, to July,” Paul Austin
Dagwood
“Winter Dreams,” Herb Coursen
Descort
Dorsimbra
“Song of the Grimalkin,” PJ Nights
“Cleaning the Astoria,” Diane Elayne Dees
Double Dactyl
“Hennery,” Wesli Court
“Emily,” Wesli Court
Dreamsong,
“Op. Posth. No. 3,” John Berryman
“Levieux Gets the Best of His Better Sense,” Alfred Nicol
Droighneach
“A Blessing on Munster,” St. Patrick
Dryden Roundelay
“Roundelay,” John Dryden
“Turning Time: A Winter Suite,” Wesli Court
Echo Verse
“Bref Double a l’Echo, Wesli Court
“Echo on the Nile,” Caroline Gill
Ellenalliv
“Ellenalliv for Lew: On His Retirement,” R. S. Gwynn
FAQ
“FAQ,” Ben Doller
“IGR,” Lewis Turco
Fib
“Fib,” Greg Pincus
“No Title,” Suresh Venkatasubramanian
“Laundry Room,” Scott Wiggerman
“Faust,” Mark Allinson
Five-Four
“When Automobiles Attack,” Tad Richards
“You’re at the Track,” Tad Richards
Fobie
“Catoptrophobia: The Fear of Mirrors,” Lewis Turco
Folding Mirror
“Hourglass of Time,” Claire Knight
“’Thalatta, Thalatta,’” Caroline Gill
Found Poem
“Canst Thou Draw,” Manoah Bodman
“Balsamum Apoplecticum,” John Quincy
“Calm,” Scott Wiggerman
Fugue or Round
“Round,” Weldon Kees
“Lives of the Great Composers,” Dana Gioia
“Wives of the Great Composers,” Ruth F. Harrison
“In Place of an Elegy,” R. S. Gwynn
Ghazal
“Ghazal for the Muses’ Amusement,” Lewis Turco
“Ghazal for the Leaf,” Scott Wiggerman
Ghazanelle
“Ghazanelle,” Moira Egan
“Gazanella,” Damiano Abeni
Grande Ballade
“Chant Royal for Wesli Court,” R. S. Gwynn
Hypallogo
“White for Weather Words,” Lewis Turco
Hip-Hop
Excerpt from “Panther Power,” Tupak Shakur
“Upon a Dead Man’s Head,” John Skelton
“Prologue” from Odds Bodkin’s Strange Thrusts and Ravels, Wesli Court
Isoverb
“The Red Wheel Barrow,” William Carlos Williams
“The Door,” Lewis Turco
Leona Rima
“99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,” Catherine Chandler
Lira
“Saint John of the Cross,” Herb Coursen
Madrigal
“Merciless Beauty,” Geoffrey Chaucer
Merismaticus
“A Portrait of the Day,” De Villo Sloan
Mote
“Lines to be Etched on a Window,” Lewis Turco
“R. I. P. Edwin Markham,” Wesli Court
Movie-Q
“Movie-Q,” Bill Knott
Nasher
“R.I.P. Ogden Nash,” Wesli Court
“Epistolalry Nasher,” Lewis Turco
Excerpt from “Kindly Unhitch that Star, Buddy,” Ogden Nash
Numerics
“46 Suffolk Road,” Clarinda Harriss
Once
“King of Kolchis,” Herb Coursen
Ovillejo
“Ovillejo,” Rhina P. Espaillat
Ovillejo-Sonnetto
“Ovillejo-Sonnetto,” Scot Slaby
Paradelle
“Paradelle for Susan,” Billy Collins
“Parodelle for Billy Collins, Laureate,” Wesli Court
Paradigm
“Paradigm,” Lewis Turco
“Jean at the Window,” Ruth F. Harrison
Parenthetics
“l(a,” E. E. Cummings
“Time Goes Down in Mirrors,” Lewis Turco
“Over Alsi River,” Ruth F. Harrison
“She,” Russell Salamon
“Re,” Vito Hannibal Acconci
“Late Season, Cattail Slough,” Ruth F. Harrison
Penta Rima
“Calypso Sends Off a Departint Guest,” Rhina P. Espaillat
Pentina
“Counterpoint,” Leigh Harrison
Progressive Hendecasyllabics
“A Row of Hedges Revisited,” Lewis Turco
Quatern
“Alfalfa Harvest,” Ruth F. Harrison
Rabbet
“Paradise,” George Herbert
“Cheap Oven Story,” Scott Wiggerman
“The Disappearance of Letters,” A. M. Juster
Redondilla
“Rush Hour Sonondilla,” Catherine Chandler
Rhopalic Verse
Rimas Dissolutas
Rime Couee
Rionnaird Tri-nard
Roundel
“R.I.P. Algernon Charles Swinburne,” Wesli Court
Rubliw
“Rubliw for Dana Gioia,” Wesli Court
“For Lewis Turco,” Richard Wilbur
“For Richard Wilbur,” Lewis Turco
“A Note to Lewis Turco,” David Mason
“Rubliw for Loeu,” R. S. Gwynn
“Rubliw for Loo-Lew,” Dave Baker
“Rubliw for Lewis Turco,” Matthew J. Spireng
“Rubliw,” Annie Finch
“The Middle Generation,” Vern Rutsala
“Rubliw for a Teacher,” John Grau
“Letter to The Formalist,” A. M. Juster
Sampler
“Acrostic Love Poem to Elizabeth Fitch,” Edward Taylor
Samsong
“348 S. Hamilton, 27288,” R. S. Gwynn
“After School,” Wesli Court
Sardine / Sonondilla
Seadna & Seadna Mor
“Cean Dubh Deelish,” Sir Samuel Ferguson
Sentina
“Poetry Is What Fish Won’t Eat,” Clarinda Harriss
Sestina Variations
“You Goat-Herd Gods,” Sir Philip Sidney
“Double Vision,” Wesli Court
“Sestina,” Algernon Charles Swinburne
“The Forest of My Seasons,” Lewis Turco
“Sestina,” Wesli Court
“The Bard,” Catherine Chandler
“The Obsession,” Wesli Court
“The Dead Letter Office,” Wesli Court
Shadowbox
“A Well As Deep As the World,” Lewis Turco
Sneadhbhairdne
Sonnenizio,
“Sonnenizio,”Kim Addonizio
“Currency,” Wesli Court
“Sonnenizio on a Line from Chapman,” Moira Egan
Sonnetto Rispetto
“Middle=Aged Cat,” Moira Egan
Sonnet Variations
“Domestic Situation,” Ernest Hilbert
“Hindssight,” Bill Coyle
“Fathers,” Wesli Court
Sonondilla
Terzanelle
“The Burned Walls,” Christian Nguyen Langworthy
“Terzanelle in Thunderweather,” Wesli Court
“Terzanelle,” Bob Schecter
Textspeak
“opN b%k,” Scot Slaby
Torno
“Woman with Chrysanthemums,” Rhina P. Espaillat
Tritina,
“Tritina for Susannah,” David Yezzi
“Road Hazzards,” Scott Wiggerman
Triversen
“The Artist,” William Carlos Williams
“Not Ideas about the Thing but the Thing Itself,” Wallace Stevens
“Snow Moon,” Lewis Turco
Twiplet
“Minimalist Winter Twiplet,” Mike Snider

UPDATE from Turco via email:

Sam Gwynn sent in a number of things for The Book of Odd and Invented Forms in response to my recent call for more contributions including another curtal sonnet and a rime couee that he turned into a ballad (Sam is so damned clever); Katherine Hastings sent in a bref double; Annie Finch’s rionnaird tri-nard was added; Ruth Harrison sent in a rimas dissolutas, all of which have been added to the ms.; Christine Rhein suggested contrapuntal poems – I have one under the topic “found poems,” but I hadn’t thought of it as a separate heading, so I’ve asked her to send hers in; Dave Mason suggested inverted haikus as a stanza form, but I dunno; Bob Mezey’s ghazal has been added, and he suggested such things as acrostics (not sure how unusual that would be), dipodics, including blues written in dipods, monorhyme, “a sonnet in which every line is a complete sentence. And a telephone message machine greeting. Or a sonnet using repetends instead of rhymes,” all of which I’ve asked him to send in. I’m delighted with all this and am having a great time in my dotage.