Poetic Form: The Cleave

There is a movement afoot, a grass roots evolution to promote a relatively new poetic form, the cleave. I found literally dozens of cleave websites, all of which are chock-full of posted submissions. The cleave was invented by Dr. Phuoc-Tan Diep, an admitted "Vietnamese boat person, a refugee in England." His drive to describe his life of dichotomy fueled his design of this very unusual format.

The cleave is three poems in one. There is a vertical left half (the left side of each line is read vertically top to bottom), a vertical right half (top to bottom on the right), and in total. Writing a cleave can be complex, as you might imagine. Each segment must fit in all three poems, fulfilling both the dialectic and the interdependent. The left and right poems should be able to stand on their own as good poetry, and the fusion of the two should lead to an insight that enhances the individual halves.

There are no guidelines as to number or length of lines, and meter and rhyme is discouraged. Often either the left or the right half is shown in bold to assist the reader in discerning the halves. When reading the full horizontal poem, it should be read as if the separation didn't exist.

Example:

The Lonely Blossom

A single blossom in field of grass, - a yellow floret protrudes,
out of place in this pasture, - lonely in a sea of green,
calls out to passers-by, - and hopes for friendly visits,
honey bees and hummingbirds - to help with propagation,
trade pollen with distant blooms - with staid anticipation.
It struggles amidst the cattle - this flower tackles a tenuous life,
afraid of the inevitable - roots holding on dearly,
until it happens - a bovine hoof, unaware,
the weakened stem severed - a flower's foolish hopes,
along with its yellow petals - crushed.