My friend Sammy Ying told me the technical term for this sort of poem is a "concrete poem" but we both agreed that my term (self-referential) seemed better. A poem that looks like the subject it describes. It is particularly difficult to get right on this website, so depending on your screen size, browser or device it might not look like a triangle or a pyramidal section.

Probably the most well known example of this type of poem is "The Mouse's Tale" which appears in Lewis Carroll's book "Alice in Wonderland". You can find a Wikipedia link to the poem below, along with a discussion of concrete poetry.

So no rhythm pattern, no rhyme scheme, this is a very visual pattern. It does contain what I think is one of my best images: "he simply traced a pattern of pain through the air with his lash and copied it onto our backs in welts" I'd give my self a pat on the back for that line, but it's still smarting. Having had two children and with Sammy as an honorary second daughter, I have every right to make excruciatingly bad "Dad" jokes.

The Mouse’s Tale

Concrete Poetry