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What is a Bouts-Rimés poem? Part game, part puzzle, they are hard to get started, but once you do, the possibilities are myriad! Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Bouts-Rimés.
The Poetry Sisters shared rhymes…and then MORE rhymes when we figured out we didn’t have enough to satisfy the requirements of most sonnet types. Because our poems WOULD be sonnets. Sonnets are apparently the origin story of the Poetry Sisters, but at the beginning I was only there as audience, so I’m a late-comer to the sonnet game. Or a new-comer, as the case may be. I haven’t written many sonnets. This poem is a Shakespearean sonnet, but I also tried Petrarchan and Terza Rima.
For me, the process of writing a Bouts-Rimés poem was similar to writing a golden shovel. I picked my sonnet type, then loaded the right side of my notebook page with the rhymes that fit the sonnet (for Shakespearean: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG). I completely ignored the iambic pentameter syllable count requirement. (Call me cheater, or call me beginner. I’m fine with either label.) I chose my topic, and then started writing (and rewriting, and crossing out, and starting over). Like I said, part game, part puzzle!
Here’s what the rest of the crew came up with:
Liz @ Liz Garton Scanlon
Tricia @ The Miss Rumphius Effect
Tanita @ {fiction, instead of lies}
Sara @ Read Write Believe
Laura @ Laura Purdie Salas
Kelly @ Kelly Ramsdell
Carol has this week’s Poetry Friday Roundup at The Apples in My Orchard.
Next month, we’re writing in the style of Valerie Worth. You can learn more about Valerie Worth and read some of her poems at Spotlight on NCTE Poets: Valerie Worth, with Lee Bennett Hopkins, a post by Renée M. LaTulippe at No Water River. Join us if you’d like!
A(nother) Year of Reading 
“October, why do you perturb?” Never such a perfectly seasonal line was written, Mary Lee. I am impressed! I think my attempt at a Bouts-Rimés would look like a ’bouts crimes’. 😉
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Oh Bridget, “’bouts crimes,” haha! Mary Lee, I love your sonnet — you really stick the landing!
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Always stretching my thinking, Mary Lee! I like your enjambment from stanza to stanza and the way you started with the rhyming pattern first. Thanks for sharing that.
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Mary Lee, gorgeous photo, and I love your use of enjambment in your sonnet! Well done!
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Like Rose, I think the enjambment works in this poem. What I feel that true enjambment should do is land on a strong word that makes you think one way, then turns as it continues on the next line. You do this with quagmire. Such a great word to contemplate.
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You’ve done a marvelous job wrestling the words into submission and into a poem that really works. I adore the last couplet. I echo the sentiments of others on enjambment. You’ve used it well here.
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Lovely sonnet, ML, and what a great ending — surprising and thought provoking. This is the first I’ve heard of “Bouts-Rimé.” Always learn something new with the Poetry Sisters.
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Ahhh, enjambment!!!!! What a perfect time for me to have used it, and I didn’t even think to. This worked out beautifully.
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Mary Lee, you made the Bouts-Rime approachable with your puzzle-fitting process. Now I’m game to try!
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I don’t know, this seems really difficult to me, Mary Lee. I’ll have to give it a try sometime – I like how you organized your approach and explained it. Thanks.
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Well-played, Mary Lee! Fall IS gorgeous, but I agree…it can bring up perturbing thoughts…for me, it’s: oh, no, it’s going to start getting dark and cold real soon. If only I could stay in the moment of the perfect October day instead. Your poem will remind me to at least try. Beautiful.
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Enjoyed your poem, Mary Lee, but I think I enjoyed your reflection on process just as much. it reveals your inner thoughts, your struggles and your determinations regarding the writing process. Most enlightening.
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Wow! There’s some neat-o words in this poem. And, I see some slick enjambment too. Well done…especially since you also describe October without what seems effortlessly, although your notebook might say otherwise.
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May Lee, your poem is a beautiful reminder that the beauty of October days is divine but there is a quagmire called back-to-life reality. I love the way you and Your Poetry Sisters work this difficult poetic format. I tried it solo and see that I need more work on this form.
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This moment of peace is precarious–yes! And all the more precious because of it. Your poem feels so natural, Mary Lee! I think you conquered the beast!
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Lest we forget that goodness is all around us, you’ve shown us clearly what can save us, Mary Lee: “using nature’s lens of humility?” Beautiful outlook. Thanks for the extra info about Bouts-Rimés!
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Mary Lee, thank you for sharing your process here. I learned so much about sonnets and Bouts-Rimés from your post. Your poem was peace-filled and reminds us to look through “nature’s lens of humility”. Beautiful!
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You did a great job with a difficult form, Mary Lee. The rhymes feel natural and flow really well. This morning, my husband and I went for a ride to look at all the beautiful fall colors. I’m always sad to see them go. The last line of your poem is exactly how I’m feeling today. “Let me enjoy this day. Do not disturb.”
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Wow, what a challenging (and fascinating!) form! I love your take on it and enjoyed reading about the process. Like so many others noted, I was wowed by your use of enjambment and by the natural flow throughout. Well played!
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Transform, Yes let’s do it, and Yes let’s change that one “unwaveringly uniform way of thinking”
It’s hard to keep the world at bay, but the fall colors are wonderful distractions—Thanks Mary Lee for your poem and beautiful pic!
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Mary Lee: Yes to your chosen form and to enjoying the day instead of racing. Thanks for this poetic lesson. Happy Halloween!
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“the quagmire / of daily life” indeed!!!
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Absolutely ADORE the direct address to October here, Mary Lee! You wrote a characteristically BEAUTIFUL poem. Thank you.
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The “Bouts-Rimé” is new to me, too – thanks for the introduction, Mary Lee, and the colorful fall poem…. You Poetry Sisters are always full of delightful surprises.
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