Southeast Asian Poetic Forms

The nucleus poem /    নিউক্লিয়াস   কবিতা  is a form of poetry that mimics the structure of an atom. It was invented in 2015    by Singapore-based Bangladeshi poet Syedur Rahman Liton. In his words, it is “an epoch-making poem of present world, prepared in a special model”.   Initially used to create poetry in Bengali, it was rapidly embraced by a diverse range of poets in the migrant worker and volunteer community. Examples now exist in English, Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia and Tamil. Contents 1   Structure 2   Examples Structure A nucleus poem consists of four lines. The number of syllables in each line corresponds to the number of electrons in each sublevel of the electron shell. The first line contains 2 syllables. The second line contains 8 syllables. The third line contains 18 syllables. The fourth line contains anywhere from 1 to 32 syllables. Examples Nucleus Poem 1, by Syedur Rahman Liton ...

The pantun is a form of poetry that is highly popular throughout the Malay world. It thrives in diverse communities in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore, and has also been found in Southern Burma, the Cocos Islands and Sri Lanka. The earliest surviving written examples date from the 15 th century, in the texts of the Sejarah Melayu, the Hikayat Raja-Raja and the Hikayat Hang Tuah; however, the sophistication of these pieces suggests a much earlier date of origin. Later examples include the verses of Munshi Abdullah in the Hikayat Abdullah (1845) and those of Lydia Rahman in Pantun Temasek (2005). Many pantun are anonymous, having become common proverbs. Contents 1   Structure 2   C onventions 3  Variations 4 Examples Structure Pantun may take may different forms, but the most common structure is as follows: There are four lines of roughly equal length—usually four beats per line. The rhyme scheme is abab. Half-rhyme is completely ac...