Quote:
Originally Posted by Roger Slater
They're a lot more fun and easier to write than acrostics because you are not forced to start any line with any particular letter.
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I’m not so sure about that because, whereas there are no rules in an acrostic, there are strict rules in a mesostic. Wikipedia explains it this way (I haven't formatted the poems, but you can visualize the layout):
Quote:
There are two types of mesostic: fifty percent and one hundred percent. (See also the example below.)
•In a fifty-percent mesostic, according to Andrew Culver (John Cage's assistant), "Between any two [capitalized] letters, you can't have the second [letter]."
•In a one-hundred-percent mesostic, "Between any two [capitalized] letters, you can't have either [letter]."
Below, an example of a one-hundred-percent mesostic:
KITCHEN
let us maKe
of thIs
modesT
plaCe
a room Holding
tons of lovE
(&, Naturally, much good food, too)
It qualifies as a one-hundred-percent mesostic because there is no k or i in the text between the capital K of line 1 and the capital I of line 2 –
let us maKe
of thIs
– no i or t between the capital I and T –
of thIs
modesT
– and so on.
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