Chanso Poetry

The Chanso is a great form for anyone who wants to write poetry but doesn’t want to be tied down to one of the traditional forms. You get to choose the number of stanzas, the rhyme scheme, and the number of syllables per line. The only requirement is that all lines have the same number of syllables, all stanzas have the same number of lines, and the rhyme scheme stays the same throughout the poem. It ends with an envoy that should be half the length of a verse.

Also called the Canso, or the Chanson, this form originated in 12th century France and was popular with the European troubadours. You can use whatever you like as the theme for your poem, but traditionally it was written as a love song. The first stanza should introduce your theme, and the envoy should wrap everything up.

My example isn’t a love song, it was inspired by something a little different.


Geese at Dawn

Noble figures, gliding in a line,
Cutting through the water, clear as glass.
Silent sentinels, by my count nine,
Guarding the access, no one shall pass.

Patrol the breakwater, duty bound,
Keeping the others safe on the shore.
Herald the dawn with focus profound
And when the moment is right, you soar.

Take wing, noble guardians of the bay!
Ascend to the heights, where you belong.
Soar, majestic gatekeepers grey
In a vee your flock is ever strong.

You were here with the very first dawn
And will be here still when man is gone.

Usually poems just sort of come to me, but this one was inspired by something I saw a few days ago. It was early morning, and I was parked (alongside several others) down at the yacht basin beside our local harbor. I was looking out over the water as I enjoyed my take-out breakfast, and I happened to notice a line of Canada geese crossing from one side of the basin to the other. They looked so stately, so precise, as they glided one after another in a straight line. It’s to my regret I didn’t take a picture of them with my phone, but obviously it left an impression on me.