Are You A Poet? Then Show It! 2-Electric Boogaloo

[Dr_Paprika]

You started a thread on this in 2003 and I followed up 17 years later.

Double Dactyls, the Higgledy Piggledy Poetry Thread

While posting in verse to another thread (don’t ask), I did a little research and ran across something called a “double dactyl”. It’s a bit like a limerick; a short, strict-form and (ideally) humorous poem. Eight lines, in two four-line stanzas. The syllables are 6-6-6-4, 6-6-6-4. The six-syllable lines should be double-dactylic (HARD-soft-soft-HARD-soft-soft). The fourth and eighth lines rhyme. The first line is nonsense. “Higgledy piggledy” is common but I’ve seen variations. The secon…

Higgeldy Piggeldy Game

This is a thread game based on a contest GAMES magazine ran, years ago. The idea is to write a short poem composed of double dactyls. A dactyl is a three syllable poetry measure with the stress on the first syllable. The following poems are written in double dactyl (DA da da DA da da), and the objective of the game is to write a similar eight line poem composed of these. They must start with the words “Higgeldy Piggeldy”. The original contest winners (IIRC) are reprinted below. Higgledy Pi…