Reflect Your Words with Palindrome Poetry

By TheRaven6825 on January 24, 2016 • ( 1 )

Mirror, mirror, on the wall – which poetic style is the fairest of them all? Have you reflected your words lately? Are you poems feeling a little asymmetrical? Then take a stab at palindrome poetry – also known as mirrored poetry.

The definition of palindrome:

a word, phrase, or number that reads the same backward or forward

A palindrome poem reads the same forward and backward, but it is not as easy as it sounds. It has to make sense when reading it in reverse. You can write it letter by letter, word for word, or line by line.

The letter by letter can be the most difficult as you have to create it with words that make sense.

Example:

Dennis and Edna sinned

Live not on evil

Some men interpret nine memos.

Check out more of these fun palindromes here.

With word for word, it is still a challenging task, as the poem has to have some meaning when reading it.

Example:

Love me.

Show you can

sprout wings when

darkness hovers

TONIGHT

hovers darkness.

When wings sprout

can you show

me love?

-Donna J. Sanders

One of the most famous line by line palindrome poems is “Doppelganger” by James A Lindon. It is a very strange tale of a man’s observations as he sees another man entering a home where a wife is alone. So is the poem told from the husband’s perspective or a stranger? Perhaps the woman has two husbands that don’t know of each other and they are each telling their side of the story. The poem is quite an intriguing write and can be left open to many interpretations.

I find this form to be one of the most challenging in poetry. Some writers might not have the patience to create one as it does take some time. As you do your daily tasks, see if you notice palindrome words or sentences. You might find some in the newspaper or the book you are reading. Are there any advertisements that use palindrome play? Juggle some words and see what you can come up with.

Written by: Donna J. Sanders

Donna is a freelance writer and blogger in West Palm Beach, FL. She is the author of Ataraxia – a poetry collection about the struggles we face, the state of the world and how to see beauty in the simplest things, and Cardboard Signs – poems to bring awareness about homelessness, mental illness, self-esteem and the injustices many face.

Find out more about her here:

https://theraven6825.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/DonnaJSanders6825

http://www.ctupublishinggroup.com/donna-j.-sanders.html

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