We’re going to tackle a Quatern first only because it is fun and it ends up looking and sounding like a real poem without a whole lot of sweat. Here are the rules: (Thanks to Poetic Asides)
Quatern Poetic Form Rules
1. This poem has 16 lines broken up into 4 quatrains (or 4-line stanzas).
2. Each line is comprised of eight syllables.
3. The first line is the refrain. In the second stanza, the refrain appears in the second line; in the third stanza, the third line; in the fourth stanza, the fourth (and final) line.
4. There are no rules for rhyming or iambics. (Yay!)
You give it a try. Meanwhile, here is one I wrote:
“When she was”
She’s a snowflake on a warm cheek.
When steam rises from hot walkways
at summers’ dawning and crickets’
songs meander off-key, her smile
refreshes like a frosty cool hug.
She’s a snowflake on a warm cheek.
Snowy owls bow to her in the
heat of strife, cooing joyful tunes
when she walks by. Sometimes I can
see the stars falling like champagne.
She’s a snowflake on a warm cheek
and we celebrate her smile while
time and mercy still call her friend.
Once, she told me her secret and
I promised to wait to tell it.
She’s a snowflake on a warm cheek.
Writing On The Sun 