I wrote this for my chapbook “Maybe.” I love pantoums. They’re challenging to write and have a rhythm which resembles a light jogging shuffle, like a koan with an extended beat.
For mine, I googled the word “maybe” and used the images as a sort of random word generator. As it is, it is one of the poems that has received a great amount of response and feedback from that collection.
Anyways, Samuel Peralta, posed the pantoum as a prompt on his blog http://dversepoets.com/2012/08/02/form-for-all-pantoum/(where you can find a great explanation on the history and on creating one), so I’m linking over there by sharing mine here.
google maybe image pantoum
maybe written on a piece of paper
maybe it’s just yes or no
maybe life is existential playdoh
maybe comically she looks for more
maybe leave it up to chance
maybe it’s just yes or no
maybe comically she looks for more
maybe it’s simply circular.
maybe it’s just yes or no
maybe written on a cube
maybe it’s simply circular
maybe all I can do now is sign this here for you.
Go over to Samuel’s blog and contribute your own!
I’m off to write something different and personal at the moment. As an editor friend just told me after reading some of it, I’m starting to let go and loosening up some prose. I’m still not sure if confessional writing is what I want to do, but I’m told it’s where I play best. This is a good development in self awareness, I guess.
jacqueline valencia 
That was another excellent post today. You make it look so easy. Thanks so much for sharing. I really enjoyed reading it very much. Have a wonderful day!
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smiles…this made me somehow think of that song…call me maybe..ha..cool idea on googling the word and using the images as a random word generator and nice job on the form as well..
Thanks Claudia. 🙂
maybe life is existential playdoh…that is just may be…enjoyed the pondering in your pantoum..i enjoy the personal poetry, it seems to carry more emotion…
Thank you very much, Brian!
You’re Canadian! And in Toronto! So am I, always good to meet up with another Canadian in the poetic blogosphere, even though we’re probably less than 20km away in the real world!
By the way, confessional poetry doesn’t have to be personal. If you look at my work (http://semaphore1.blogspot.com) a lot of it can be classified as confessional poetry – but it isn’t, really, because the lives are invented: I use the voice of a character I imagine to speak in a confessional poetic voice. So, if your strength is personal poetry, but you’re not sure if you want to swim in that pool, invent a character, a mouthpiece – it becomes liberating. Keep writing!
Thanks for the advice Samuel!