Poetry Forms

The Cleave Poem

The Cleave Poem form is an experimental form created by Dr Phuoc-Tan Diep who states on his website for Cleave Poetry:

In 2006 I came up with an idea for an experimental poetic form called the Cleave Poem.

One of my aims was to examine how something can be more than the sum of its parts and can be 3 in 1: synergy, fusion, co-operation, dialectics, marriage, interdependence, teamwork and The Trinity.

How to read a Cleave poem?

Simply:
1. Read the left hand poem as a first discrete poem.
2. Read the right hand poem as a second discrete poem.
3. Read the whole as a third integrated poem.

In its most basic form it is three poems:
~~two parallel ‘vertical’ poems (left and right)
~~a third ‘horizontal’ poem being the fusion of the vertical poems read together.

As a summary, here are 11 points. These are my current thoughts on cleave poetics. I will expand on each subsequently. They are for discussion. Please comment and dialogue.
1. a foundation for creativity
2. gives freedom to explore
3. a framework for that exploration
4. art fused with craft
5. focuses on multiplicity of meanings
6. allows simultaneous seeing of the whole and its parts
7. synergistic
8. exercise in poetics and linguistics
9. a meta-form
10. poetic maturity
11. communication and dialogue

For Cleave poetry by Dr Phuoc-Tan Diep, see his webzine:
http://cleavepoetry.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/cleave-poem-a-new-experimental-poet...

See also:
http://ptdiep.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/cleave-poem-invention-of-a-new-poetic-for...

http://www.eauk.org/nostrangers/stories/phuoc-tan-diep.cfm


Following is a Cleave poem larryp created, through ancient portals


Here is how it would appear as one poem (the fusion); this format is provided only to help with a better understanding of the Cleave poetry form:


peering through ancient portals, seeking things lost to the soul
my mind’s eye lingers amidst the scattered debris
where decaying morsels of broken hearts
lay in fragments, shattered, and I wonder at the number
abandoned through the ages, left to venture alone
even to the final death, without the joy of knowing love


Here is how it appears as the three in one Cleave poem; I have separated the left and right poems with blue and brown color font. One poem reads down the left side, one down the right side, and the third poem is the fusion of the two. Following is how a Cleave poem would appear, though in most cases, the left side would be in bold font and the right side in normal font without the color font (as shown in poems by Dr Phuoc-Tan Diep in his webzine). The bold font would be to clearly distinguish the poem on the left from the poem on the right.

peering through ancient portals, seeking things lost to the soul
my mind’s eye lingers amidst the scattered debris
where decaying morsels of broken hearts
lay in fragments, shattered, and I wonder at the number
abandoned through the ages, left to venture alone
even to the final death, without the joy of knowing love

through ancient portals
a Cleave Poem by
larryp
2/14/2009


Additional Note -- added 5/22/09

I performed this form of poem in the 1990's with the Arlington Poetry Project. To say it was invented
in 2006 is inaccurate. To say that it has recently been popularized is quite accurate. One
might even go so far as to say it was discovered in 2006. By the way, I have posted one of
my poems on the Cleave website you mention. I think some scholarly work on the origin of
forms like this would be very interesting. People were experimenting with all different
physical set-ups in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Richard Dates