A Short Paper 
On The Role Of Repetition 
In The Production And Re-Production 
Of Formal And Non-Formal Poetic Texts

I. Introduction

	This short paper will be a `brief discussion' on the fundamental role of repetition in the creation and re-creation of poetic value, i.e., with respect to the meaning and meaningfulness on all levels of a poetic text whether that text is formal or non-formal in its poetic characterization.

	My intentions in this paper are to indicate that processes of iteration are involved on all levels of textual production and re-production.
	That the `richness' of the poetic text involves processes of repetition be that text relatively formal or non-formal in the manner of its characterization.
	That, armed with this level of insight, we can go about the writing of a non-formal poetic text  with the importation and integrated enrichment of suitable devices that appropriately promote, enstructure and enfunction that text as a successful non-formal poetic text. In other words it is my hope that this exposition can help us in the practical creation, interpretation and critique of non-formal poems.

1.	To begin this `brief discussion' I shall situate this topic in a recognition of the multi-faceted nature of a text by introducing the concepts of the `text,' the `meta-text' and the `non-text.'
2.	Next, in a second section, I shall discuss the concept of a harmonic modeling of the relationship between various processes of repetition where the level of re-iteration varies from practical conformity to relative non-conformity, and, how this basic structure is fundamental to the creation, and re-creation, of all forms of value. 
3.	To illustrate this model, in a third section, the role of rhyme in formal poetry will be briefly examined. 
4.	Then the same type of analysis will be applied to an understanding of the role of repetition in the general function of rhythm.
5.	In a fifth section this analysis will continue with respect to metaphor, metonymy, rhetoric, irony, and poetic foreshadowing, or poetic `pre-echoing.'
6.	To conclude it will be noted, in the harmonic modeling of textual iteration, that the textual aspect of the text is relatively dissonant, that the textual aspect of the meta-textual, through its emphasis on conformity with the social dimension of genre expectations, is relatively consonant, while the textual aspect of the non-textual will be shown as that aspect of the text wherein this sense of the harmonic is experienced in an ongoing sense of harmony and resolution, etc., and that processes of repetition on this level of entextualization have the effect of reinforcing our perception of the author's intentions in regards to the apparent import of that particular text.
	
	That which is a `text' is `that which has been intentionally inscribed upon the fabric of the world.' For convenience let us assume that a poetic text is inscribed on paper or some other similar medium. Moreover, let us assume that the type of text we are going to consider in this discussion is that of a poetic text, but a text that is not just poetic in spirit but also in form, be that formal or non-formal in character. A `poem' being considered as `a text that is rich with poetic devices that give that text a certain degree of poetic density and intensity.'
	In our imaginations let us imagine that we have just been presented with a sheet of paper with what appears to be a poem printed upon it. Is this all we have? Is it the case that all we have to hand here is a text, nothing more and nothing less?
	In our recognition of this sheet of paper as inscribed, as inscribed with a poem, there is brought to bear upon this sheet a certain hierarchy of social expectations, a recognition of (a set of) genres, e.g., as a sheet of paper, as an inscribed sheet of paper, as a poetically inscribed sheet of paper, as poetic inscriptions of a certain type, etc. 
	A text, therefore, is not just a mere text! For it to be recognized as a certain `type' of text the dimension of the `meta-textual' and its genre expectations must also be invoked. That text is `set up' in such a manner, by the author of that text, etc., that this distinctive type of transmission can easily be read as an example of that type of text that that text signals to us through a dissemination of its meta-textual dimension, i.e., the signaling of certain information `about' that `text' through the use, e.g., of a title, verse-like format, the exercise of other conventions, etc. Therefore, a text cannot be just a `mere text' but must also be situated in the midst of its own indicated meta-textuality. But wait, and this should not be overlooked, there is more!
	When we are engrossed in our engagement with an interesting, well-formed text we seem to forget that we are actually reading that text. This `engaged' dimension in our reading of a text appears to be characterized by an existential sense of spontaneity, a sense of directness and immediacy in the simulation of the contents of that text. Because this dimension of the text is apparently not primarily involved with the basic mechanics of the reading of a text, and is equally not meta-textual in its suggestion of genre expectations, and, that in our unimpeded reading of a text, in retrospect, it can seem to us that we then loose our cognitive sense of being engaged in the reading of that text, let me, therefore, because of this apparent act of `forgetfulness,' call this third dimension of the text `non-textual' in character.
	Thus we should conclude, when we hold a piece of paper in our hands with what seems to be the inscription of a poem in a language that can be read by us, that our appropriate engagement with that text cannot be just textual!
	In the next section of this paper let me argue that these three aspects of the text, namely, the textual, the meta-textual and the non-textual, mirror different facets of the process of harmonization  that, in the  process of textualization, are the foundations for the production and re-production of the apparent meaning and meaningfulness of that text. Moreover, that these three facets in the process of harmonization involve three different types of repetition respectively, namely, apparent dis-continuity in repetition, apparent continuity in repetition and acts of repetitive reinforcement in the resolution of meaning arrived at through forms of accommodation set up between `sheer' disconformity and `mere' conformity.

II. A Harmonic Modeling Of Value Creation

	In traditional musical harmony we have the formula `preparation, dissonance (or suspension) and resolution.' In acts of repetition that conform to a continuation of that iterated we have, in essence, the relatively consonant. On the other hand, dis-conformity in acts of repetition introduces us to the relatively dissonant. Hence the dissonant and the consonant in this scheme of things cannot be constituted as the intrinsically `dissonant' or as the intrinsically `consonant.' 
	The expression, `dissonant,' however, is best translated by the expression `provocative.' The harmonization of the dissonant with the consonant is realized when mutual grounds in some form or other produce a sense of resolution and this is put into effect when some form of accommodation is taken up and followed through. The `provocative' not only acting in a dissonant mode but also in a mode whereby that sense of the dissonant also `shows,' through its non-dis-similarity with that which is consonant, in which way, or other, some form of resolutional-accommodation could be put into effect. In this sense we are `set up' and in `following through' are taken to that `place' where, with `resolution,' we appear to have `followed' the author's intentions. A repetition of this type and end, implicated in this harmonic unfolding, reinforcing our sense of an apparent understanding of the author's intentions. Hence these three types of interrelated processes of iteration (which for convenience we might like to call `mere' repetition, `sheer' repetition and `bare' repetition, the latter indicating the bare bones, or essential direction, when this aspect of the `theme' is effectively isolated from the primary mechanics of that text such as grammar, syntax, figures of speech, etc.).
	It is my contention that this model underlies all forms of value creation (and re-creation) from the transmission of information to the induction of a poetic sensitivity be that by formal or non-formal means. 
	At this point in time let us move from the relatively theoretical to the more practical through an examination of various poetic practices and in the process reinforce our recognition of the universality of these three moments that, in effect, constitute this `hermeneutic circle' between textual `parts' and the `form' of meta-textual `wholes' as introduced and mediated through this third moment of the non-textual. These three moments in full exercise and balance giving us, simultaneously, through a sense of a simulation of that text, the transcendental `illusion of reality' and the `reality of that illusion' apparently imparted, rightly or wrongly, in our `reading' of that text.

III. The Role Of Iteration In The Poetic Use of Rhyme

	Rhyme is a classical feature of formal poetry but not a formal feature of Classical Poetry (with some minor exceptions).

	Traditionally, the serious use of rhyme does not use the repetition of exactly the same value. Hence, in this regard, repetition is not exactly the same. Moreover, this form of sheer repetition often continues this sense of shifting by invoking new rhymes although ending on an already established rhyme. E.g:

i.	part... cart... start... 

	Whereas iso-rhymes need to be handled with extreme caution. E.g:

ii.	pear... pier... pair... pare...

	In a poem of a free, non-formal nature the use of inserted rhyme must strike one as odd unless that weight of relative emphasis emphasizes some important word or point, a sense of coda or, indeed, the termination of that poem in some sort of secret admiration of the power of rhyme as used in the genres of a more formal oriented poetry.
	Usually rhyme is not exact in value, not used excessively, appropriately inserted in the expected places and in such a manner that reinforces the sense and skill of that poem.

	The use of alliteration following similar rules, i.e., not too exactly, not excessively, appropriately inserted with skill and with reference to sense.

	A non-formal oriented practice can also use half, or near, rhymes with the same type of parsimony. E.g:

iii.	part... hearth... task. 	(vowel)
iv.	heat... teeth... dead. 	(dentals)
v.	tame... ran... sing...  	(nasals)
vi.	push... hits... fez...	(sibilants)
vi.	first... four... freight (initial sound)

	The use of rhyme, whether formally or non-formally, whether partially or in the form of alliteration, usually invokes some sense of the dis-conformingly repetitive, i.e., sheer repetition.

IV. The Role Of Iteration In The Poetic Use of Rhythm

	Rhythm is a classical feature of formal poetry and a formal feature of Classical Poetry.

	However, what constitutes `rhythm' is dependent upon the nature of the conventions associated with a genre in a particular culture, e.g., quantity, temporal duration, stress, feet, weight, tone, the use of expected or unexpected caesura, etc.
	
	But some formal poems, e.g., the haiku do not need a formal sense of rhythm although all poems must read well in their language of origin and in their language of translation.

	The use of rhythm is either set, or fixed, or, subject to shifts either dramatic or minimalistic.

	Originally poetry was sung or chanted hence our reference to it as `verse.'

	The subtle use of rhythm can be a very effective device in the unfolding of a non-formal poem.

	The subtlety in the use of rhythm is exercised when the expected is down played and the unexpected is played up. In school we are taught to follow the rules. But it in the skilful breaking of the rules that rhythm truly becomes a poetic device. Like, e.g., the doping of a crystalline substance, say germanium, with impurities that only in the correct amount contribute to the functioning of the transistor-effect. The analogy being made is this: that it is the imposition of certain imperfections in the perfect crystalline rhythmic structure of a formal (or non-formal) poem that contribute to its more profound rhythmic subtlety. That static state of too much mere repetition is as fatal to the poetic sensibilities of a poem as the disruption of too much of the dynamic irregularities of sheer repetition!

	In the poem that reads well the use of rhythm is either obvious or subliminal. Overall rhythm helping to set a tone of voice, careful shifts in emphasis helping to reinforce the fluctuating weight in emphasis. The correct use of rhythms helping to set the emotional tone of that `voice.' Subtleties within these rhythmic structures setting up the induction of subtleties in the inflections of an affective and/or cognitive value centered in those associated sections that may spread to embrace the totality of that poem...

	Too much rhythmic conformity killing a poem, and, too much rhythmic dis-conformity tearing a poem to pieces. The subtlety of a poem managing the right relationship between these two polarities of `mere' consonance and `sheer' dissonance (read in the light of a provocational accommodation realized and promoted through the non-absolute non-dis-conformity of the relatively dissonant).

V. The Role Of Iteration In The Poetic Use Of Other Devices

	A poem is a text richer than its translated paraphrase into prose. That richness arising through the proper placement of structural and functional devices that contribute to the overall reading of that poem.

	Let us examine the following - metaphor, metonymy, rhetoric, irony, and poetic foreshadowing, or poetic `pre-echoing.'

i.	Metaphor

	Metaphor are inherently unstable, and, in their inevitable mixing, to some degree or other, also textually destabilizing.

	How metaphors function might be considered a mystery. Let us say, tentatively, that by analogy through a specific focusing upon certain aspects of an invoked phenomenon certain evocations are provoked within the mapped terrain of our psyches and that by such means a novel cognitive meaning and/or affective meaningfulness is brought to bear on that re-invested topic subjected to such transformational treatment. In other words certain areas of our psychic map of the world are inter-linked in a novel fashion that is relatively insightful by virtue of the provoked re-reading of that topic. The provoked resolution of tensions between the reading and the re-reading of that topic, in their conformity and disconformity, contributing to the sense of the delight experienced in the re-simulated re-reading of that topic. 
	The same type of mechanism operating in our reading of a humorous text. In either case the nature of that delight being shaped by the context, degree, manner and apparent intent of that act of provocation. Just as timing is of the greatest importance in the unfolding of a comic text spacing is of the greatest importance in the entrance and exit of the metaphor.

	On a superficial, circumspect point of view a metaphor `is like x,' or, `has x-ness,' means `is both like x and is not like x,' or, `has both x-ness and non-x-ness.'

	To say, e.g., that the world is `like a dream' means that the world is `both like a dream and is not like a dream,' the manner and context of that metaphor determining in a provocative fashion just `what is like and is not like' might mean. In this example the metaphor might mean that `the world is like a dream in being unreal, in truth, and that we need to wake in order to realize this?' 
	These tensions between `is' and `is not' contributing to the inherent instability of metaphor. The inevitable mixing of metaphor also contributing to the overall instability of that poem. A critical appreciation of the manner and  the (meta-textual) context of the nature of the resolution of these tensions allowing us to critically appreciate that poem. 
	This fabric contributing to its provocative insightfulness, richness, strength, intensity, density, successfulness, originality, the simulation of a sense of presence, etc. 
	In essence, our experience of these facets are realized in the sense of the existential as experienced in and through our reading of the non-textual aspect of that text.

	The metaphorical by concentrating on the simultaneously `both is and is not' in effect is structured on a conjunctive suspension. Skillfulness in the navigating of these tensions between the conformity of the `is' and the disconformity of the `is not' contributing to the apparent skillfulness of the functions of that metaphor situated in that poem.

ii.	The Rhetorical And Metonymy

	The metaphor by focusing on a certain phenomenon or set of phenomena is relatively textual by nature. On the other hand the rhetorical focuses on a re-writing of the metaphorical context, i.e., the meta-textual. And the nature of this focus is essentially metonymic(?).

	The rhetorical by concentrating on the enquestioning `what if' in effect is structured on a dis-conjunctive suspension centered on the `either/or.' When we entertain a question, our understanding of the basic nature of that question means we must have some understanding of what is basically being asked, i.e., in general terms of reference is `is x  a or non-a?' The entertainment of these two possibilities simultaneously being in effect a dis-conjunctive suspension.
	
	E.g., `is the world really (like) a dream?' means `is it the case or is not the case that the world is (like) a dream? In other words rhetorical pressure has the potential of calling into question the play of a particular individual metaphor or a set of metaphor. In this instance the world is `seen' as dreamt up into existence by a dreamer, either divine or non-divine by nature, and this aspect, as a feature of the dream experience, or some other, is then applied to this topic of the world... This whole process then being rhetorically enquestioned... `Is it really the case the world is like a dream...'

	E.g., in the expression "the White House said today..." what is meant is that the `White House' is equivalent to `the president' who lives in that residence. Calling this focus into question is rhetorical, whereas focusing on certain facets of the nature of that focus is metonymical.

	The rhetorical being centered on the `either/or' is inherently unstable. Moreover, mixing various rhetorical gestures and/or devices is essentially destabilizing. Skilfulness in the navigating of these tensions between the conformity of `it is either the case' and the disconformity of `or it is not the case,' and the tensions between various rhetorical inputs, contributing to the apparent skilfulness of the functions of that rhetorical performance situated in and expressed through that poem.

	Metaphorical thinking is spatially oriented whereas metonymical thinking is temporal in its orientation, in effect, we have the sense of the static structure versus the dynamic function. Correctly, both orientations must be present in some inverse degree or other because the sense of a structure is enstructured through function and the sense of a function is enfunctioned through structure.
	Put another way we might say that altering the function, altering the struture of the metaphor, essentially changes the rhetorical nature of the metaphor put in play. On the other hand altering the focus on that subjected to the function of that metaphor without altering the actual subject invoked is essentially metonymical.
	E.g., If we were to use the expression `The President of America is like the White House' in a metaphorical mode without some genre-expectations for the use of this expression as a metaphor we should be at a loss as to how we might make sense of it in a metaphorical mode. On the other hand in `setting up' this expression in a certain rhetorical manner we might be able to provoke a certain expected reading of the same. In the form of an `introduction' let us say that `in racial background The President of America is like the White House' with a provoked meaning that that person is always/usually a white person like the white stone facade of that building. Set up in some other manner that metaphor would then be read, when it appears that it can be read, in accordance with that particular `setting' or `re-setting' associated with that  On reflection the implication of a focus on the spatial dimension, invoked through the body of that metaphor, seems to be relatively more important, at least on a move overt level of inspection.
	On the other hand if the newspapers were to ever say that `the White House today declared war in Vietnam' what might be meant by such an expression? To understand how this expression means `The President of America today declared war in Vietnam' we have to know that in some periods of time the President of America actually lives within the confines of the White House, that this building is their official residence. An appreciation of this fact needs some form of a temporal, or historical, awareness as to the fact that this is the case. On reflection in our consideration of this and other types of metonymy the implication of a focus on the temporal dimension seems to be relatively more important. I.e., in our understanding of the history of the subject certain essential facets of their existence can be seen as successfully substituting for that subject themselves.
	Although the metaphorical and the metonymical are respectively textual, analogical and predicate oriented, and, meta-textual, aspectival and subject oriented in orientation it is not possible to think metaphorically in an overt fashion at the same time as one is to think overtly in a metonymical mode. However, as the meta-textual writes, and re-writes the metaphorical mode, we should also note how the rhetorical introduces the metaphorical, gives it a context and a logical denomination, and, then moves on to either qualify, rewrite the same or introduce or re-intoduce another meta-context, etc.. 
	This fluctuation between the rhetorical orientation and the metaphorical orientation in the unfolding of a text, or the reading of that text, appropriately harmonized, contributing to the poetic richness of a text whether formal or non-formal by nature (and the apparently `received' richness our reading of that same text).

	Knowing something about these polar factors and their fluctuation, and their mutual induction of the simulation of an existential dimension of the non-textual, along with its collective creation and re-creation of a sense of the aesthetic, such knowledge should assist the author of a text in the enrichment of that text whether that text be poetic or non-poetic by nature. Hence the importance of establishing the right degree of balance between the rhetorical and the metaphorical in the writing and the reading (and the re-writing and the re-reading) of a text in sympathy with the nature of that text, be it non-poetic or poetic, formal or non-formal in the nature of its apparently intended production.

	In metaphorical thinking repetition is set up analogically between the phenomenon of the metaphor and those features seen as isomorphic in the object-state treated to such an analogy. Such isomorphism being seen in a non-literal mode, the analogical features invoked linking the text concerned with the same ontological realm of being invoked by that analogy and therein enriching that text with this extension of its phenomenal reading. This extension also being enriched through forms of dialectical synthesis that allow that extension in sense to be proffered in a meaningful manner. E.g., to say that `the latest news is hot (off the press)' invokes certain features of our understanding of the phenomenon of heat, e.g., a need to notice it, take care, its freshness, its newness, that fact that it hasn't had time to cool, etc., etc.
	On the other hand rhetorical thinking in its use of metonymical processes invokes a relatively greater interest in the history of the analogical processes alluded to. E.g., if we refer to `Mr. x' as `Mr. Big Ears' we might mean by this that in our historical understanding of this person that this person has a tendency to eavesdrop and/or actually does have big ears, etc. Repetition invoking this type of isomorphism between the contents of this act of rhetoric and that nominated subject of that act of rhetorical focus, all realized within an emphasis upon the temporal, historical dimension of that so denominated (although not without some form of a re-writing of the nature of that subject by virtue of this selective act of focus or re-focus).

iii.	Irony And Poetic Pre-Echoing

	The apparent intentions of the poet can be read in a text if that text is well-formed, appropriately read and the author of that text goes out of their way to reinforce those intentions through forms of repetition, i.e., through processes of `bare' repetition. Often a good text uses what I call the `two and a half rule.' That is to say, the bare mechanics of the point being set up to be read are invoked at least twice and possibly reinforced a third or fourth time in a less detailed fashion. This repetition of this trope, or point, reinforcing the apparent `argument' of the author, i.e., the harmonic re-unfolding of the text on this particular point.
	E.g., in the following haiku the following analogies are set up and repeated with the overall intention of implying a re-written re-reading of that text that is meant to be ironic in its final finally appreciated flavour. The words `sipping,' `company,' `green tea,' being given a different, final, re-written re-reading of their contribution to this text. The whole text of the haiku essentially representing the satisfactory harmonic unfolding of one trope although the argument of that trope, or point, is reinforced more than once within the confines of that trope.

	Summer company.
	Sipping green tea by the pond
	with some mosquitoes.

	An `ironic text' is one where `the text in being re-read reveals its true meaning through a re-reading of the original reading,' the degree of distance experienced between these two readings in this point of reversal or rewriting being experienced with some form of amazement, pleasure, insight, humour, etc.

	A poetic foreshadowing, or I would prefer to use an aural metaphor, a poetic `pre-echoing' occurring when the text analogically simulates a certain event or state of affairs before the unfolding of its actual depiction within the text of the poem. This occurring on either a denotational or a connotational level of meaning.
	Notice how in the following poem the suicidal act of jumping off the cliff is pre-echoed before its actual description. 				

	...Icarus flew towards the sun
	but this complex, composite character
	had a different vision of the heavens...
	...A pensioner whose bills 
	all seemed to come that same week...
	...the power bill that day 
	being the last straw...
	...the final event that made him snap...
	...sink into the agitated depths 
	of his depression before
	these winds of adversity...
	...By bus took himself towards The Heads
	and from the breeze swept edge 
	threw himself over The Gap
	into the churning depths below...
	...On the way down he saw one
	opened mouthed fishing fisherman
	who quite disbelieved the nature 
	of his catch as a wave came in
	and lifted our aerial friend upwards...
	...returning him back towards the shore...
	...An elderly, well educated man who 
	for all his deadly serious efforts
	merely swapped a strong dose of the flu
	for his brand new, recently fitted dentures...

	Moreover, that depicted can also be `echoed' after its initial aural introduction, reinforcing the author's apparent intent. In this poem this echo occurring in the swapping, or i.e., the dropping, of this elderly person's false teeth.

	Ironic reversals, pre-echoes, echoes, and other forms of apparently intended re-writing of the text releasing an additional degree of hermeneutic surplus of value when appropriately formed and read. The basic mechanism invoked being centered upon the role of `bare' repetition to reinforce a `non-textual reading of the simulation' in that text apparently intended on all the relevant levels that release a surplus of meaning and meaningfulness above and beyond that invested in the actual reading of that text.

	Titles, and introductory sections of a text, being meta-textually `about' a text can also exert an ironic influence in the reading of that text. A good title attached to a good poem adding to the richness of that text.
	In a similar fashion, a good ending of a good text contributing to the enrichment of that text and the sense of satisfaction realized in our reading of that text. In essence a sharpening of the point of that concluding trope. The `ending' of that text being `about' an ending of that text contributing to the ironical reading/re-reading of that text. That the degree of this realignment or reversal in meaning should be in sympathy with the nature, or genre, of that text.
	And in this light the ending of  text should be just that! No more and no less!

Section VI - Conclusion

	The theoretical point of this `brief discussion' was to demonstrate that non-trivial forms of repetition are invoked on all levels of textual production and re-production. From the transmission of information to the artfulness of poetic devices of either a formal or a non-formal nature. 

	That the relatively textual and its metaphor, when and where present, is essentially dissonant through its non-conformity with genre-expectations, the instability of the metaphorical, etc. That the meta-textual dimension, along with its rhetoric and metonymy, is essentially consonant through its conformity with the establishment of its genre-expectations. The relationship between these two levels of textuality is essentially provocative and to some degree, adequately or inadequately, able to be subjected to a process of resolution that is re-iterable and whose accommodation is reinforced through the textual re-iteration of the essentials of that resolutional theme. This simulation, and re-simulation, of this facet of textual resolution simulating in our involved engagement with that text a re-simulated simulation of the non-textual dimension of that text. And that through these three types of repetition our involved engagement with a text that is adequately well-formed is productive of a surplus of value above and beyond that merely brought to bear on the reading of that text. A complex sense of value that is phenomenological, hermeneutical and existential in breath from, respectively, a textual, meta-textual and a non-textual point of view.

	That, in a theoretical perspective, we should recognize the role of repetition in the formation and transmission of all forms of value in and through the simulation of a text through a mutual appreciation of these three moments of the textual, the meta-textual and the non-textual.

	However, the primary practical point of this exposition was to illuminate the need for, and the nature of, poetic devices especially in regards to the enrichment of non-formal poetic texts.
	As an observation one might say that a non-formal poetic text stands in a greater need for the importation of poetic devices to enrich that text. Too often a non-formal poetic text is merely an exercise in prose formation. As was noted, a poem should be richer in content than its mere prose translation. This difference is its poetical richness.
	In this endeavour it was suggested that a greater attention, where appropriate, to the creation and refinement of rhyme, part-rhyme, alliteration, rhythm, metaphor, rhetoric, metonymy, irony, pre-echo, echo and other forms of intended re-writing will assist the poet in this task of enrichment. This enrichment being reinforced when these pursuits contribute to a well-formed text that integrates these various devices in such a manner that they appear natural and non-contrived, or at least not too contrived (other than in the satirical poem where these features are exaggerated).
	Therefore, in this task I wish all poets success. May they repeat themselves in the manner suggested, neither conforming to genre too closely nor non-conforming to genre too greatly. Therein carving out for themselves a poetic space of great richness and density, with a provocative poetic intensity that expresses and re-expresses what is being said, or rather, what is best left unsaid...

							    Noël Tointon, 1.9.96.

Eating Pears - A Nonsense Poem Using One Iso-Rhyme

	Eating peers
	on the piers
	dwelt two pairs
	of sweet pears;
	with flap-ears
	then appears
	one who peers,
	one who pares
	flesh from pears,
	monster pears,
	monster pears
	eating peers
	on the piers...

	"Spare those peers,
	spear those pears,"
	said two pairs
	of au pairs
	to two peers,
	while two pairs
	of sweet pears
	said "who pares,
	he compares,
	he comperes
	just which pairs
	need repairs,
	...disappears."

	He despairs,
	"so should peers
	spare those spears,
	spears those spares,
	spears spare pears,
	spare spare peers,"
	then two pairs
	of sweet pears,
	took au pairs,
	monster pears,
	monster pears
	eating peers
	on the piers...