San Gabriel Refrain

Created by Lawrence R. Eberhart, aka Lawrencealot on Allpoetry, and named by  Doubletake on  Allpoetry….He said, "As to the name: it's a stretch... But the repeated uneven line lengths are vaguely reminiscent of the profile of a mountain range. How about "San Gabriel Refrain"?

This form was borne of an appreciation for the ever increasingly popular Trijan Refrain created by Jan Turner. It is a little longer giving room for weightier subjects.

Like the Trijan Refrain is has three stanzas*, each having a two line refrain. Unlike the TR, it has no requirement that the first line be repeated, and the poet may choose to take his refrain from any contiguous part of either lines 1, 3, or 5.

This was revised on November 9th, 2013 to allow any number of stanzas.

There must be a refrain in both lines 7 and 8, it may be a line repeated from any of the source lines, or it may be taken from separate lines (if you have taken care to make the proper syllable rhyme).

Latest REVISON:   The REFRAINS may be contiguous syllables taken from any place in the source lines.  There shall be 6 syllables for the pentameter  version and 4 syllables for the tetrameter version.

The refrain may be repeated from just one line as in the Trijan Refrain, or it may, as in the example below be taken from any of the mandated lines.

The stanzas are syllabic: 10/8/10/8/10/10/6/6/10/10 for what I'll call the pentameter version

and 8/6/8/6/8/8/4/4/8/8 for what I'll call the tetrameter version .

with rhyme scheme ababccddee.

A single poem has any number of stanzas.

Any consistent meter is acceptable.

Specifications last changed on November 9 , 2013 all with the idea of increasing poets' discretion and opportunity for creativity.

Example Poem

Cognitive Continuum (San Gabriel Refrain)

If we should disagree- I'm obstinate! 

You're such a silly guy you know 

it's wrong to pose that you are adamant 

to think that some thing must be so. 

Still, something sure must be, and working well. 

But what it is at this time we can't tell. 

If we should disagree 

Still, something sure must be. 

But man when saying "must" is seldom right. 

Five thousand churches, all they do is fight. 

Now science has become so self possessed, 

constrained by those who've made their name, 

whose right to truth is often self-professed

and bars newcomers from their game. 

A race to skim the scum from grantors pond 

by bringing forth results of which they're fond. 

Now science has become 

A race to skim the scum 

To publish or to perish is the song. 

and there is no real cost to get it wrong. 

So if the beads and cross have so far failed, 

and science is so often wrong 

with models at a loss- results derailed 

(at best just guessing, all along.)

It seems none have the right now to insist 

they know for certain what others have missed. 

So if the beads and cross 

with models at a loss 

all leave a little room for cogent doubt 

I can see options and not feel left out. 

© Lawrencealot - October 22,2013

Visual Template (Showing iambic pentameter version)

       and giving examples of ways in which the refrain lines might be populated.