A Pantoum Poem For David's Birthday

This week at my Wednesday morning writing class, our instructor, Nancy introduced us to a form of writing poetry called Pantoum. Probably seven out of the eight women in class groaned a bit because writing poetry is not even close to their favorite form of writing. This is a memoir writing class after all. Afterwards everyone felt differently; I even felt a little excited, learning something new. Let me try to explain Pantoum:

“The pantoum is a form of poetry composed of a series of quatrains. The second and fourth lines of the stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next. This pattern continues for any number of stanzas. Ideally, the meaning of lines shifts when they are repeated although the words remain exactly the same: this can be done by shifting punctuation, punning, or simply re-contextualizing.”

Nancy’s assignment was to write about a recent sacred space, then use ten lines from our writing for the pantoum. The following is my first pantoum:

On His Birthday

We gather on May 2nd or thereabouts to celebrate his birth and 26 years of life.

“Mimi, I miss him, even though I never met him.”

“Yes, Lincoln; the Ugandans say “he is missing from our lives” about the loved ones who are not with them.”

Aubie’s orange balloon is filled with words of love and longing to know her Uncle.

We gather on May 2nd or thereabouts to celebrate his birth and 25 years of life.

Aubie’s orange balloon is filled with words of love and longing to know her Uncle.

“Yes Lincoln; the Ugandans say “he is missing from our lives” about the loved ones who are not with them.”

His tears erupt and he cannot stop the flow.

Aubie’s orange balloon is filled with words of love and longing to know her Uncle.

Aubie tenderly wraps her arms around her Daddy.

His tears erupt and he cannot stop the flow.

We all wait patiently, making a sacred space for Daniel as he grieves his brother.

Aubie tenderly wraps her arms around her Daddy.

The balloons are released and we look heavenward.

We all wait patiently, making a sacred space for Daniel as he grieves his brother.

We watch until the balloons melt into the sky.

The balloons are released and we look heavenward.

“Mimi, I miss him, even though I never met him.”

We watch the balloons melt into the sky.

On his birthday.