One of the poetic forms I really enjoyed experimenting with recently was the Kyrielle. I decided to focus on the toxic emotion that is shame when exploring this form and it felt good to play it at its own game! For those of you that don’t yet know this form, here’s a brief description:

French. Syllabic. A poem written in quatrain stanzas. Each line has a count of eight syllables. The last line of the first quatrain is the refrain, and it reappears as the last line of each quatrain. Usually it is rhymed. The poem can have any number of stanzas.

Shame-shaming Kyrielle

It bullies and it follows you

It urges you to hide away

Diminishes and hollows you

Let’s shed some light on it today!

It doesn’t serve you, this you know

It twists your guts in harmful ways

You wish the bloody thing would go!

Let’s shed…