Example of a Pantoum

Here's an example of a pantoum I wrote about my youngest brother's diagnosis of cardiomyopathy. By coincidence, the U.S. Hostage situation in Tehran at the American Embassy occurred on the exact day that my brother fell ill. He read the newspaper's headlines every day and used the count of the day's in captivity, which were large, banner headlines every day, to count the days of his illness. That fact has stuck with me all of these years and I decided on the pantoum form to write about it. I did not break the form at all. I used it exactly. I find that when I'm playing with a form, I like to follow the rules, especially the first time, and then later, if I enjoy the form and decide to write more in it, then I play around with breaking the rules.

PANTOUM FOR NOVEMBER 4, 1979

Death to America! Death to America!
The Farsi chant plus quick-tongued trills
confuses my bug-eyed, Yankee ears.
Iranian Students Seize U.S. Embassy.

The Farsi chant plus quick-tongued trills -
sounds that grow familiar - crust in my mouth.
Iranian Students Seize U.S. Embassy.
Static electricity charges the November air.

Sounds that grow familiar - crust in my mouth.
66 Hostages - American Citizens - Held.
Static electricity charges the November air.
Headlines count their days in captivity.

66 Hostages - American Citizens - Held.
Jimmy Carter pleads for humanitarian release.
Headlines count their days in captivity.
Captors sympathize with oppressed minorities.

Jimmy Carter pleads for humanitarian release.
Ayatollah‘s guests, not hostages, are they.
Captors sympathize with oppressed minorities.
Women and African-Americans are set free.

Ayatollah‘s guests, not hostages, are they.
53 guests remain blindfolded on TV news.
Women and African-Americans are set free.
Christmas comes and goes with snow.

53 guests remain blindfolded on TV news.
Charles Jones, African-American, is not free.
Christmas comes and goes with snow.
I worry over Jones, Morse Code specialist.

Charles Jones, African-American, is not free.
Vice Counsul Richard Queen can’t stand.
I worry over Jones, Morse Code specialist.
Queen is misdiagnosed with a twisted spine.

Vice Counsul Richard Queen can’t stand.
Valentine’s steals by with cardboard hearts.
Queen is misdiagnosed with a twisted spine.
Followers of the Imam's Line persist.

Valentine’s steals by with cardboard hearts.
Yellow ribbons, American flags fly for July 4.
Followers of the Imam's Line persist.
Queen comes home with Multiple Sclerosis.

Yellow ribbons, American flags fly for July 4.
MS nerves misfire - an electrical short circuit.
Queen comes home with Multiple Sclerosis.
No American chemotherapy, hang ex-Shah.

MS nerves misfire - an electrical short circuit.
Alike, hate polarizes Americans, Iranians.
No American chemotherapy, hang ex-Shah.
Shah dies, leaves five gold palaces, $50 million.

Alike, hate polarizes Americans, Iranians.
Charges shoot, crisscross the globe.
Shah dies, leaves five gold palaces, $50 million.
Six months pass, hostages still confined.

Charges shoot, crisscross the globe.
Hate floats both ways across the Atlantic.
Six months pass, hostages still confined.
52 hostages finish off 444-day ordeal.

Hate floats both ways across the Atlantic.
Free at last, yellow ribbons are cut down.
52 hostages finish off 444-day ordeal.
Embassy fence-cutter remains nameless.

Free at last, yellow ribbons are cut down.
Chador concealed the fence-cutter’s face.
Embassy fence-cutter remains nameless.
Chador concealed her bolt cutters.

Chador concealed the fence-cutter’s face.
Their foreign tongue to me still sounds odd.
Chador concealed her bolt cutters.
But, I may be starting to understand.

Their foreign tongue to me still sounds odd,
confuses my bug-eyed, Yankee ears,
but I may be starting to understand.
Death to America! Death to America!