QUIETUS POETRY CONTEST - Unseeking Seeker's Blog

It seems the form is not clearly understood by some poets, so I'll elaborate again:

First the rules, as already stated in the contest description-

First stanza is a quatrain with 8-6-8-6 syllable count in end rhyme abab + 

Followed by 6-6-6 syllable count tercet, end rhyme ccc +

Concluded by an equal syllable count rhyming couplet using refrain (any length as of poet’s choice) beginning with the first word (or words) of the first line, as the last line of the poem

The refrain (last line of poem) is also the poem title

This seems clear enough. However, I find that the most common error is mismatch of poem title, refrain and last line, which are to be identical. This may possibly owing to the reason that thought flow shifts, while the poem is being composed. What I usually do is, is to first think of a 'message'. That becomes the poem title. Then I write it as the refrain as well as last line (copy-paste), so there is no mistake later on. Thereafter, I try to compose the penultimate line of equal syllable count and also rhyming. After that I attempt to harmonise the rest of the poem, with the theme. 

It's an easy form of just 9 lines, which I use often. With short attention spans, there's a large section of readers who don't have the patience to read long poems! For those who think they can, let's have a show of hands of who all have read Sri Aurobindo's epic, Savitri?