Featured again is a poem form obtained from the weekly Short Form Poetry Workshop on Linden Lab’s virtual platform known as Second Life. This week the form was the rispetto.

What then is a rispetto? It is a Tuscan folk verse form of strambotto. It reached its pinnacle between the 14th and 15th centuries, especially in the work of the poet, Politian, who wrote approximately 200 rispetti. Interestingly, Lorenzo de Medici also favored this form.

More specifically, it is an 8-line form holding two rhyme quatrains (two four-line stanzas).

Models of how it is written include:

Rhyme scheme ababccdd or abababcc or abab cddc

o a
o b
o a
o b

o c
o c
o d
o d

or
• a
• b
• a
• b

• a
• b
• c
• c

or
• a
• b
• a
• b

• c
• d
• d
• c

Mine from that work shop is:

A Rispetto of Loneliness
by Michael Doyle

Time into time there is loneliness to face
As we walk through moments we don’t quite understand
It seems sometimes treasonous that we embrace
Thoughts and conceptions as if these are commands

We color ourselves within these these straight lines
Even when our hearts are curved and often showing
Sometimes tripping over imaginary land mines
It’s hard to feel blind thinking we are knowing

(c), May 24, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved