Octo

OCTO is a WoPoLi-created eight-part poem in which the number eight governs the structure. The name suggests a written figure of eight: octo meaning eight. An Octo poem may be written as eight lines, eight syllables, eight words, eight stanzas, or an eight-letter acrostic. The governing idea is that the poem should visibly or structurally depend on the number eight.

An Octo poem often includes: eight lines, eight repeated elements, an eight-letter acrostic, eight images, eight directions, eight objects, or eight turns of thought. It may be serious, comic, devotional, descriptive, narrative, or puzzle-like. The form should make the number eight matter rather than merely counting to eight.

To write an Octo poem, choose the eight-part structure first. Decide whether the poem will use eight lines, eight named objects, eight voices, eight directions, or an eight-letter word spelled downward. Then write the poem so that the structure supports the meaning. A poem about a compass, spider, clock, octopus, family table, town square, or repeating habit may naturally suit the form.

Octo Poem

Old boots wait beside the door.
Cold coffee cools in the cup.
Tools hang straight above the bench.
One nail rolls under the chair.
Grandfather hums through his work.
Rain dents the roof of the shed.
A dog sleeps through the hammering.
Morning smells of pine and oil.

“Octo poem” follows the form by using eight lines and by spelling OCTOGRAM downward through the first letters of the lines. The poem also gathers eight workshop images into one small scene. The acrostic gives the poem its written figure, while the eight lines give it its count.

Octo poem is a WoPoLi-created form. A stricter Octo poem may require exactly eight lines, eight syllables and an eight-letter acrostic. A looser version may require any eight-part structure. The poet may also create a visual Octo poem by arranging eight short lines around a central word.