The monotetra is a new poetic form developed by Michael Walker. Each stanza contains four lines in monorhyme. Each line is in tetrameter (four metrical feet) for a total of eight syllables. What makes the monotetra so powerful as a poetic form, is that the last line contains two metrical feet, repeated. It can have as few as one or two stanzas, or as many as desired.

Stanza Structure:

Line 1: 8 syllables; A1
Line 2: 8 syllables; A2
Line 3: 8 syllables; A3
Line 4: 4 syllables, repeated; A4, A4

Example #1:

Paper Dreams

Her childhood was a world, it seems,
Of paper dolls and paper dreams,
Of blackest night and midnight screams,
And tear's hot streams, and tear's hot streams.

She met him on the Internet,
He slowly gained her trust, and yet,
Past memories were still a threat.
Could she forget? Could she forget?

His words of love stirred feelings deep,
Feelings that long had been asleep,
And love did sweep her off her feet,
No more to weep, no more to weep.

Then one day words were said that he
Misunderstood, he would not see;
Once more she was a refugee
Of love’s debris, of love’s debris.

For, “I can’t love you now,” he spoke,
And with those words her heart he broke,
Her paper dreams, love’s cruelest joke,
Went up in smoke, went up in smoke.

Now all that’s left are black moonbeams,
The ashes of her paper dreams,
And tears that flow in bloody streams,
And silent screams, and silent screams.

Copyright © 2003 Linda Newman

Example #2:

An Angel Spoke To Me Today

An angel spoke to me today
But what she said I cannot say
Though my mind's eye strives to replay
It slips away, it slips away...

I know she came into my room
And lifted me from pain and gloom
To see the beauty of the moon
But gone too soon, but gone too soon...

Her words - they flowed like honey spun
From the rays of the ling'ring sun
And when the whole affair was done
I was at one, I was at one.

An angel spoke to me today
And what she taught I still replay
For all the blacks and browns and grays
Have gone away, have gone away. 

Copyright © 2003 Michael Walker