Acronet Verse Form

This form was invented in 2008 by Patricia A. Farnsworth-Simpson, author of more than 30 books of poetry. And though I can find plenty of information on her books, the author herself remains elusive.

The Acronet is a cross between an Acrostic poem, and a Nonet. It’s comprised of two nine-line stanzas, making it a poem of eighteen lines. It has a strict syllable count: 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9. You can try to make it rhyme if you want to, but that’s purely up to the poet.

What makes this poem different, and more difficult, is the Acrostic part. The first letter of each line, when written in order, spell out a word or phrase. This can be a bit of a challenge, finding a phrase with exactly 18 words. I’d like to say finding the starting phrase was the most difficult part, but to be honest, the whole thing was . . . challenging.

The Nonet was the easiest of the three poems – I got lucky with it and wrote it pretty much in one take. The Acrostic poem wasn’t too bad either, especially considering I made it rhyme. But at least I didn’t have any limitations when it came to line lengths. With the Acronet, however, I found the shorter the line, the harder it was to keep it making sense. Whew! If you’re looking for a challenge, give it a try!


Chaos Is Raining Down

Can you feel it in the air tonight
heavy, like the coming of rain—
all the words left unspoken.
Often they will collect,
silently hiding
in the corners,
so quiet
restful.
Arcs
in
naked
ink swirling,
neon sounds with
glimpses of something
dervish-like corkscrewing
overhead, twisting back down
while the words of chaos collect,
never spoken, never written down.