This style of poetry is pretty easy once you have written a few. I wrote pantoum after pantoum for a while, most of them terrible, but I think it helped me master the format. Not everything you write has to be good. I rarely throw out a piece of writing. Even if it is really bad, it helps me see how I've improved in later pieces.
There is a book called Writer to Writer: From Think to Ink, written by Gail Carson Levine. It is an easy-to-read book on the writing craft, good for the beginning writer. Near the end, there is a section on poetry. Mrs. Levine was the first to introduce me to the pantoum.
The pantoum is built on repetition. Here is an example one that I wrote:
Two Hats
A pantoum by Lilyana Page
Two hats.
Tea and cookies.
Beautiful red shoes.
Pearls.
Tea and cookies,
a little picnic with
pearls.
Tea for two.
A little picnic with
special meaning.
Tea for two.
The first spring tea.
Special meaning,
a tradition.
The first spring tea
set upon soft moss.
A tradition.
Beautiful red shoes
set upon soft moss.
Two hats.
(This poem was awarded an Honourable Mention by Dandelion Press in March of 2023. It was written to accompany a specific painting, Pearls by artist Lori Preusch. You can view her art gallery here. You can view a studio print version of Pearls here).
Now let's take a second look at that poem and add some numbers to help you understand how the lines repeat.
1 Two hats.
2 Tea and cookies.
3 Beautiful red shoes.
4 Pearls.
2 Tea and cookies,
5 a little picnic with
4 pearls.
6 Tea for two.
5 A little picnic with
7 special meaning.
6 Tea for two.
8 The first spring tea.
7 Special meaning,
9 a tradition.
8 The first spring tea
10 set upon soft moss.
9 A tradition.
3 Beautiful red shoes
10 set upon soft moss.
1 Two hats.
You'll notice that except for the first verse, lines one and three are repeats of lines two and four of the previous verse. The ending verse, verse five, uses the third line of verse one as its second line, and verse one's line one as its line four. Clear as mud?
I would recommend copying the numbers above into a notebook and experimenting with them there. It will become clearer with practice.
There should be at least three verses in your pantoum, but there can be as many more as you like. Rhyming is also another option to play around with. Another neat option that takes more time to successfully incorporate into a pantoum, but gives a very neat effect is the use of homophones, such as bag and beg. You could do something like this:
1 Sadness.
2 The puppy's eyes
3 beg,
4 pleading.
2 The puppy's eyes.
5 I see fear,
4 pleading,
6 hunger.
5 I see fear.
7 I want to help.
6 Hunger.
8 Hunger I can fix.
7 I want to help.
9 I watch the butcher.
8 Hunger I can fix.
10 Food. It will help that.
9 I watch the butcher
3 bag
10 food. It will help that
1 sadness.
Do you see what I did with line three? You can add many, many homophones to one pantoum. This is just an extremely simple example. It is also the only pantoum with homophones I have successfully completed. I see it as a more "advanced" pantoum skill.
I would start simple, get the hang of pantoum writing, and then begin incorporating rhyming, homophones, and adding more than five verses to your poem.
Here are five pantoum prompts for today:
Write a pantoum from the perspective of your favourite animal, perhaps your pet, if you have one. Explore something from your chosen animal's perspective. This could be a cozy blanket, the taste of your Dad's favourite slipper, your pet's favourite trick to play, or the joys of the backyard.
Write a six verse pantoum about the holiday that is closest right now.
Write a pantoum using at least one homophone. Choose your own subject.
If you are looking for a real challenge, write a pantoum about rain, incorporating at least two sets of homophones, and no less than seven verses. I would be interested to see the finished product.
Write a pantoum with a joke or riddle worked into it. Good luck!
Please, let me know if you like this poetry style as much as I do!