In a recent visit to the Nevada Museum of Art, the feature exhibit was titled Shangri-La: a collection of art, photography and architecture from the collection of philanthropist, Doris Duke’s estate in Hawaii in the style of Arab culture. The most obvious element of art that caught my attention was pattern.

Pattern is a device employed by artists which offers a repetitive or highly organized visual appearance. Artists in all media use it, but it is most obvious in architecture, painting, fabrics, music and commercial design.

In the Arab world pattern was used abundantly by Islamic artists because their religion forbade them to create images of humans. Thus they channeled their artistic energies into developing patterns of magnificent floral designs that covered entire buildings.

Outside of the world of art, we find amazing patterns in nature. Consider but a few: zebras, snakes, bird feathers, flowers.

Oh, and of course, there are the patterns in our own behaviors. I am fascinated by the roles we see in marriages, dysfunctional families, workplaces. Years ago this led me to conduct a study entitled Anger Management among Nurses in Health Care Organizations. Oy!

But how do patterns appear in poetry? My first (and perhaps most obvious) thoughts flew to rhyme schemes, rhythm, sound patterns, various types of form poetry, word repetition, and refrains.

Without excluding these, I’d like us to take a careful look around us and write about a pattern we encounter in our daily lives whether in nature, people, art, architecture, music…wherever you encounter it. It might be fun to add one of the poetic elements outlined in the previous paragraph, but that’s not essential.

And those of you who enjoy playing with photography—how about sharing a photo of your own?

If you would like to join us, but are not sure how to link up—here’s the drill:
• Write your poem;
• Post it on your blog or website;
• Click on Mr. Linky at the bottom of this post and enter your name and the direct URL of your post.
• Come to the pub and visit other poets’ work. Take time to comment, please.
• While you’re at it, enjoy the process.
• It would be stellar if you could invite a poet who doesn’t visit the pub on a regular basis to join us…put it out there on your social media sites.

For dVerse Meeting the Bar, this is Victoria. I’m looking forward to sipping your poetry.