Series I: Ghazal (Middle Eastern poetic form)
Series II: Free Verse
Series III: Tercets (villanelles and terzanelles)
General information

The material in each of these two volumes took about a year to produce. Volume I defines and explores the villanelle and terzanelle poetic forms and Volume II expands this exploration to include the hybridanelle, a poetic form that combines the structures of the villanelle and terzanelle into one. There are times when I feel that maybe I'm wasting my energy by spending so much of my time working with such constraining forms, but then I look back and realize how much I've learned through this process, and even what I've created. The way I have gone about educating and training myself is extremely difficult and unyielding work, yet it is work that so far continues to yield worthwhile results.

I've recently updated all of these chapbooks to reflect my transition to the use of "Zahhar" as my penname.

As of February 2006 I have enough material to produce a new chapbook for this series, but I haven't yet had the opportunity to put it together. I'm hoping to have this opportunity by the end of June 2006.

Volume I: Stepping Stones (Read as PDF)
An Exploration of the Terzanelle and Villanelle - revision 3

36 page chapbook containing 12 terzanelle and 12 villanelle poems. The poems are presented in the order they were written, which spans a three and a half year time-frame, though most of the poems are written between June 2003 and April 2004. This chapbook begins with technical information about the terzanelle and villanelle poetry forms.

Volume II: Cloudscapes in Passing (Read as PDF)

36 page chapbook containing 7 terzanelle, 7 villanelle and 5 hybridanelle poems. The hybridanelle is introduced in the first chapter with a clear explanation. It is a poetic form based on the villanelle and terzanelle. The poems in this volume were written between May 2003 and March 2005.

Volume III: Faded Parallels (Read as PDF)

36 page chapbook containing 13 hybridanelle poems. Starts off with an article about alternatives to rhyme, which is pretty involved and gets a little into associative parallelisms. The poems in this volume were written between April 2005 and July 2006.

This will be the slowest growing series. Most of my attention goes to exploring more structured forms because I feel like they have more to offer me for the moment. However, I'll never abandon free verse poetry. In fact, after I complete my long term projects with structured forms I plan to explore free verse quite because I want to see how my time studying structured forms will have ultimately affected the way I approach writing free verse poetry.

After four years I have finally added Elegance of Instinct, Volume II, to this series. The title is taken from a phrase in "The Mother", a poem on page 13 (page 15 in the PDF file).

On the inside cover I've included a poem by a friend, Alan Polson, titled "The Unusual Path". Mr. Polson sees my path in life as being pretty unusual, and he seems to respect the trials involved. He's been a supportive friend over the past several years.

Volume I: The Unusual Guest (Read as PDF)

36 page chapbook containing 22 both open and metric free verse poems. This volume focuses on a theme of general self disclosure with the poems organized into four themes: Some Understanding, Loss, Effect and Quest. Heading off this chapbook is some light discussion about the nature of free verse and the conventions I use when writing free verse.

Volume II: Elegance of Instinct (Read as PDF)

40 page chapbook containing 31 free verse poems. This volume basically organizes all but a few of the free verse poems I've written since the middle of 2002 into four loose themes: Flashbacks, Contemplation, Connections and Reflections. Heading off this chapbook are some thoughts about how my free verse writing has changed over the past four years.

These four volumes are the result of two years worth of almost constant work with and study of the ghazal. My aim has been to reproduce, as closely as I may, the traditional Indo-Iranian ghazal as an English art form. I may or may not have succeeded. I hope I may have at least been partially successful in presenting a solid, positive example of what is possible for the English written ghazal.

Aside from presenting an average of 25 ghazals per volume, a total of 100 throughout, each volume also provides information and insights about the ghazal, resulting from my research and time spent with this art form. This work with the ghazal has taken me through a profound evolutionary process in my understanding of the ghazal itself, its history, its cultural ties, and poetry in general. The volume titles may seem unusual and bland at first, but the titles themselves are intended to convey information about a primary aspect of the ghazal art form, its mono-rhyme and refrain.

Although I finished my ghazal project in June 2003, I continue to revisit these chapbooks to make further revision. The revision number for each chapbook is listed next to the volume title.

I began studying poetry very seriously around the same time I started my work with the ghazal. As a result, Series I grew and matured with me as I learned about poetry and related subjects.

When I wrote the ghazals contained in Discovering English Ghazal, my understanding of verbal metrics was rudimentary. Mostly, I just counted syllables in an attempt to create metrically consistent lines. Today my understanding of verbal metrics and poetry in general is much more advanced than it was when I started this project in September 2001.

Wherever possible, my revisions work to improve the meter, presentation and impact of the ghazals.

Volume I: Discovering English Ghazal (Read as PDF) - revision 8

24 English written ghazals organized into 5 themes: Reason, Expressions, Trees, Women and Kismet. This volume begins with succinct, but comprehensive information about the ghazal's origins, composition and how it can be written in English.

Volume II: Uncovering English Ghazal (Read as PDF) - revision 6

25 English written ghazals organized into 4 themes: Affliction, Condition, Passing and Realizations. This volume begins with two insightful articles about the ghazal itself.

Volume III: Recovering English Ghazal (Read as PDF) - revision 2

25 English written ghazals organized into 4 themes: Distress, Ponderment, Calling and Transcendence. This volume begins with discussion about the origin of the penname used in the ghazals.

Volume IV: Rediscovering English Ghazal (Read as PDF) - revision 2

26 English written ghazals organized into 4 themes: Bonnie, Apparitions, Frames and Dissent. This volume begins with discussion about my experience with this ghazal series.