A Small Crushed Shell - Pantoum
Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2021 4:07 pm
Following suit after reading Maureen's recently posted pantoum ... this is a really interesting repetitive poetry form which originated in Malaysia/Indonesia in the 18th century. It's a challenge to have the repeated lines making sense in the context of the whole poem.
A Small Crushed Shell (Pantoum)
(c) Shelley Hansen 2020
I stooped to lift a small crushed shell.
It lay upon the golden sand.
I wondered how its shellfish fell –
with age or by a human hand?
It lay upon the golden sand.
No life within the washing wave.
With age or by a human hand
entombed forever in its grave.
No life within the washing wave,
yet once it graced the ocean floor.
Entombed forever in its grave –
a fleeting sadness touched my core.
Yet once it graced the ocean floor.
I wondered how its shellfish fell.
A fleeting sadness touched my core –
I stooped to lift a small crushed shell.
A Small Crushed Shell (Pantoum)
(c) Shelley Hansen 2020
I stooped to lift a small crushed shell.
It lay upon the golden sand.
I wondered how its shellfish fell –
with age or by a human hand?
It lay upon the golden sand.
No life within the washing wave.
With age or by a human hand
entombed forever in its grave.
No life within the washing wave,
yet once it graced the ocean floor.
Entombed forever in its grave –
a fleeting sadness touched my core.
Yet once it graced the ocean floor.
I wondered how its shellfish fell.
A fleeting sadness touched my core –
I stooped to lift a small crushed shell.