How to write a Paradelle Poem. Or how to weave puzzling verses of Spells.

🌒 What Is a Paradelle Poem?

A paradelle is a modern poetic form invented by former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins - not as an ancient French form, but as a parody of strict formal poetry. Collins originally presented it as an eleventh‑century French form, but later revealed it was a joke.

Even though it began humorously, poets embraced it, and it has since become a real (and notoriously tricky) form.

A Paradelle poem is built like a spell book, a set of instructions disguised as repetition, contradiction, and eventual clarity. Lean into the love of the surreal, into symbolic guidance, letting the “feeling” be something, you, the reader must assemble from fragments.

The paradelle treats “avoidance” as impossibility, and ritual - letting the form’s contradictions mirror the way a feeling slips through even as you try to bar the door. It shapes love of surreal instruction, emotional ambiguity, and the quiet tension between what we command and what we conceal.

🎭 Why It Exists

The paradelle was designed to poke fun at the difficulty and rigidity of poetic forms like the villanelle.

But ironically, the constraints make it genuinely difficult, and many poets now treat it as a serious craft challenge.

🧠 It Feels Surreal:

Because the poet must reuse the same words repeatedly and then recombine them, paradelles often produce:

• strange syntax

• dreamlike or fragmented imagery

• accidental symbolism

• a final stanza that tries to “make sense” of the earlier chaos

This makes the form perfect for surreal or philosophical themes - which is why it fits so well with creative styles.

🧩

The Structure of a Paradelle

A paradelle has four stanzas, each with six lines.

Stanzas 1–3 follow strict repetition rules:

• Lines 1 and 2 must be identical.

• Lines 3 and 4 must also be identical.

• Lines 5 and 6 must use ONLY the words from lines 1–4, rearranged in any order — no new words allowed.

Stanza 4:

• Must use only the words from all previous stanzas, rearranged into a final six-line stanza that attempts to make coherent sense.

This final stanza is where the poet tries to “solve” the chaos created earlier — which is part of the joke and the challenge.

Paradelle for Avoiding What Trembles Inside

Close the door of your mind before the feeling enters.

Close the door of your mind before the feeling enters.

Before the feeling enters, close your mind of the door.

Before the feeling enters, close your mind of the door.

Close the feeling before your mind enters of the door.

Close your mind of the door...before the feeling enters.

~

Turn your gaze toward anything that does not remember.

Turn your gaze toward anything that does not remember.

Toward anything that does not remember, turn your gaze.

Toward anything that does not remember, turn your gaze.

Remember your gaze toward anything that does not turn.

Gaze toward anything that does not turn your remember .

~

Name no pulse that rises when the silence leans closer.

Name no pulse that rises when the silence leans closer.

When the silence rises, name no pulse that leans closer.

When the silence rises, name no pulse that leans closer.

Name the silence when no pulse rises closer that leans.

Silence the pulse when no name rises closer that leans.

~

Now turn the silence toward the door before anything rises.

Close your gaze when the feeling leans closer to remember.

Name no mind that enters the pulse before it turns away.

Avoid the feeling by arranging its pieces until they return.

By arranging its pieces until they return. Avoid the feeling.

Turn the silence toward the door, now - before anything rises.

.......................................

1. Paradelle for Evading a Feeling (Strict Form)

Close the shutters of your mind before the ache arrives.

Close the shutters of your mind before the ache arrives.

Before the ache arrives, close your mind of the shutters.

Before the ache arrives, close your mind of the shutters.

Close the mind before the shutters arrive of your ache.

Close your mind of the shutters, before the ache arrives

`

Turn your gaze toward anything that does not flicker.

Turn your gaze toward anything that does not flicker.

Toward anything that does not flicker, turn your gaze.

Toward anything that does not flicker, turn your gaze.

Turn anything toward your gaze that does not flicker.

Flicker toward anything that does not turn your gaze.

~

Name no pulse that stirs beneath your careful silence.

Name no pulse that stirs beneath your careful silence.

Beneath your careful silence, name no pulse that stirs.

Beneath your careful silence, name no pulse that stirs.

Name your silence beneath, no pulse stirs that careful.

Silence the pulse beneath your careful name that stirs.

~

Now turn the silence toward the shutters before anything stirs.

Close your gaze beneath the ache that does blind and glimmer.

Name no mind that arrives before your careful pulse.

Avoid the feeling by rearranging its ache until it returns.

Steady your mind, slow your pulse, forget the flicker

Enjoy the silence, let go of the ache - be at peace

.....

Paradelle of Accidental Gravity (Strict Form)

A poem that tries to be funny, explains why it should be funny, and then becomes solemn by accident.

Begin by telling the reader this joke will land.

Begin by telling the reader this joke will land.

Tell the reader this joke will begin by land.

Tell the reader this joke will begin by land.

Begin this joke; by telling the reader will land .

Reader, tell the joke, this will begin by land.

~

Explain that humor thrives on chaos and repetition.

Explain that humor thrives on chaos and repetition.

Chaos thrives on repetition; explain that humor and...

Chaos thrives on repetition; explain that humor and...

Explain chaos; repetition thrives on humor and that...

Humor thrives on chaos; explain repetition and that.

~

Assure them the form itself is meant to be ridiculous.

Assure them the form itself is meant to be ridiculous.

Meant to assure, the form itself is ridiculous.

Meant to assure, the form itself is ridiculous.

Assure the form is meant; itself ridiculous to them.

The form itself is ridiculous. Meant to assure.

~

Now explain the joke itself; telling the form will land.

Begin the ridiculous chaos; humor thrives on repetition.

Assure the reader this form is meant to be chaos.

But the poem becomes serious the moment you explain.

The SESTET six line stanza is exhausting, pace yourself

Coffee, tea or cocoa breaks in between is strongly advised.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I completely understand if you wash your hands of it at any point during the read. If you read unto the end, you are a brave soul. I thank you very much.

Although, I also know that it made no sense whatsoever. Sigh!