Hello, dVerse Poets! It’s Merril welcoming you to the pub with a Meeting the Bar challenge. Today, we’re going to be writing duplex form poems.

The duplex is a very recent form invented by Jericho Brown in 2018. It combines the forms of ghazal, sonnet, and blues. You can read his explanation of the form here. The article also goes into more detail about the form. Brown is also one of the featured writers on the current PBS show Southern Storytellers.

Here are the basic components of the form:

• 14 Lines, in couplets
• 9 to 11 syllables for each line (but the lines don’t have to have the same number of syllables)
• The second line of each couplet is partially repeated or echoed by the first line of the following couplet. The last line (line 14) echoes the first line.

The second line of each couplet should change the meaning of the first line in some unexpected way.

I know it sounds very confusing. It’s easier to understand if you look at an example. Here is Jericho Brown’s poem, Duplex

Here is an example of a duplex poem written by poet I.S. Jones

It took me awhile to get all the components of this form, and perhaps I don’t have it all yet. Just try it and have fun!

For this prompt, you must write a 14-line poem in couplets.

The second line of each couplet must be partially repeated in the first line of the next couplet, and the first line must at least partially be repeated in the last line.

Suggestions: Brown uses lines from poems that he never finished. You may want to take random lines from some of your old poems and experiment with moving them around. I consulted the Magnetic Poetry Oracle, always a good way for me to get inspired.

Once you have written your duplex poem, add the link to Mr. Linky. Then visit others to see what they have written.