Jalál {Glory), 8 Jalál (Glory), 147 BE - Saturday, April 15, 2017 CE about 1:08 PM Pacific Daylight Time
It's
Saturday the day before Easter Sunday. I don't celebrate Easter, but
have encountered some new poetry forms that can be used for Easter
poems. The writing.com poetry newsletter for April 12, 2017 contained
the explanations for a couple of Easter poetry forms. Those for were (1)
the Blessed Cross and (2) the Cross of Salvation. Both forms are center
aligned and appear intriguing. I am contemplating using them in an
upcoming poem.
The April Holy Day I celebrate is Ridvan. I have written poems about Rivan before, but year I am going to use a specific form called a Vahid. A Vahid is based on the 19 year cycle of the Baha'i Calender. Vahid means unity and has a numerical value of 19. Each stanza in a vahid consists of 19 syllables. A vahid
can have anywhere from 1 to 19 stanzas with each stanza having 19
syllables, but without any specific line count in the stanza. There is
no required rhyme scheme so poets can use rhyme as they wish. The poem
must focus on a specific theme or subject which usually makes up part of
the title. It isn't required that the subject or theme be mentioned in
the poem itself; however, all stanzas must suggest something about the
theme or subject. Punctuation and capitalization is left up to the poet.
I wrote that explanation of the Vahid form because I used the form to enter a contest on writing.com.
