Bly’s Ramage
Introducing a poetic form first formulated by Minnesota Poet Laureate Robert Bly.
Oh, the ramage.
There’s something appealing with the way this poetic form rolls off the tongue. Deceptively simple, it calls for 85 syllables across eight lines and relies on interior rhyming.
I was first introduced to this form while listening to an interview with Bly on the podcast Essential American Poets, by The Poetry Foundation.
Bly notes in an interview with The Washington Post:
"The ramage has 85 syllables in eight lines. I didn't plan it that way, but I wrote a few, and when I counted them up that's the way they were." One of his most recent ramages, he says, is "written in the key of 'ur.'" It has that syllable recurring in a variety of words, at irregular intervals, and the effect, when it is read aloud with a dulcimer, is uncannily musical.
Bly’s musical form has quickly become a go-to favorite of mine. Here is a ramage that I read within The Poets Temple, where groups of international poets assemble for open mic sessions and words of encouragement within the new Clubhouse app ecosystem.
“Let There Be Kitchen Light”
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