Day 30 ~ Let’s write a “Tetractys Poem” for #NationalPoetryMonth and "30 poems in 30 days"

Well, this is it! Poetry Month is over. Thanks for joining me on this 30-day challenge. Y’all have written some impressive poetry. I hope you have enjoyed it.

Let’s end with kind of a cool poetry form. I’ve only used it twice before during poetry month. It’s called a Tetractys poem. It has some mathematical components to it if you want to write more than one stanza, so don’t just read the initial instructions and rush off to write one – read to the end and decide if you want to write more than one verse.

This poetic form was created by Ray Stebbing and consists of 20 total syllables (per verse). SO COUNT YOUR SYLLABLES CAREFULLY. It can be one stand-alone verse, OR several verses, with no need for a title and no need for rhyming (although you can rhyme if you wish), but must be arranged in the following fashion:

Line 1 ~ one syllable
Line 2 ~ two syllables
Line 3 ~ three syllables
Line 4 ~ four syllables
Line 5 ~ TEN syllables

So, that’s the basic outline, but things get more interesting than that! This could be a magical poem for you! The ancient Greek mathematician, Euclid of Alexandria, felt the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 were magical because they add up to TEN. And there are your first ten syllables. The final ten syllables all fall on the last line.

And that can stand alone as a complete Tetractys poem.

However, there can also be Double and Triple Tetractys poems, etc., simply by reversing the process.

Here’s an example of the form for more than one verse:

X
X•X
X•X•X
X•X•X•X
X•X•X•X•X•X•X•X•X•X
 
X•X•X•X•X•X•X•X•X•X
X•X•X•X
X•X•X
X•X
X

            (If you want a third verse, flip it again, etc.)

X
X•X
X•X•X
X•X•X•X
X•X•X•X•X•X•X•X•X•X

             

            (You can make as many verses as you wish, as long as each subsequent verse   
            is reversed from the previous one in terms of the syllable count).

 

Here are a couple of examples:    

Birds
Flying
Migrating
On a journey
Their ancestors have taken before them

 

And then, when the time is right, they head back
Flying again
To the place
They call
Home

 

Do
Humans
Search the Earth
Not quite content
Looking in all the wrong places for home

 

Then finding their way through service and love
Leading them where
Heavenly
Parents
Wait

                    © 2025 Stephanie Abney

 

Here’s one I wrote a few years ago:          

Love
As true
And sweet as
Ours can only
Grow with forgiveness, humor, and patience
 

                        © 2019 Stephanie Abney

 

 

PLEASE REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to someone. The same goes for any poems that are shared in the comments of this blog or elsewhere online as a result of this challenge. They are the creative property of the person who writes them. These poems are their original work and no one may use them without their permission. It is understood that they own the copyright to them as soon as they write them and especially as soon as they post them. Thanks so much!

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