Climbing The Stairs
John Daleiden, US
Larry Gross characterizes the Burmese Climbing Rhyme as a poem based on
a “repeated sequence of three internally rhymed lines consisting of four syllables each”. The rhyme pattern begins at the end of line1, but
then is placed internally in the next two lines; the fourth syllable of line 1, the 3rd syllable of line 2, and the 2nd syllable of line 3. The
last syllable of line three begins the new series of rhymes repeating the 4-3-2 pattern. The poet repeats the pattern until the idea of the
poem is completed. This stair step pattern is called the 4-3-2 scheme; the physical appearance of the rhymes gives rise to the name climbing
"Basically, Burmese is a monosyllabic language with each syllable
having independent meaning. A four syllable Burmese line is generally also a four word line”, says Gross. The principle of the Burmese
Climbing Rhyme poem when applied to an English language poem is based on word counting the verse line instead of syllable counting. Gross
offers his poem of homage to William Shakespeare as an example:
Each In His Time
Living’s merely the stage
untutored actors age on—
nothing sage, nothing
happens, only drowned emotions
some uncrowned king
continues to hide, refuses
to stride the world
unfettered, flag unfurled against
fate’s hurled arrows,
invent his plot, must
speak what is
for him, suspend himself,
amend, pretend until
becomes someone free, someone
striding Galilee, crowned
in a world he never meant to
In the final four lines Gross uses experimental rhyming.
Applying the techniques of the Burmese Climbing Rhyme poem to English language poems is an interesting experiment. The internal rhymes offer
abundant and sonorous harmonies, but avoid the sing song rhyming of
some end rhymed English poetry. The techniques adapt well to the current preference for
short lined poems in English and as demonstrated in the example by Larry Gross, the form seems to tolerate variation.
Variations might include an altered rhyme pattern, or a five or six word line pattern.
Three writers from The OutlawPoets offer some examples of the Burmese Climbing Rhyme poem in this issue.
Read the Burmese Climbing
Rhyme poems in Sketchbook.