The two-by-four is a rather quirky eight-word poetic form invented by the American poet and book publisher Lee Ann Brown, which I originally discovered on pages 100 and 101 of her first book of poetry “Polyverse” published in 1999. As its name indicates, the form consists of four lines of two words apiece, and may or may not rhyme (only one of Brown’s eleven two-by-fours in her book does). There is no restriction on subject matter, and the form itself can be very versatile, but the poem’s main emphasis should be on whimsical, creative, and often experimental usage of language and wordplay. Although the original poems by Lee Ann did not have individual titles, I prefer to title my own two-by-fours to help identify and set up each poem’s premise (otherwise, I am afraid readers would be scratching their heads trying to figure out what they are all about). Like many of the other weird and offbeat poetry forms I have written about in the past, I find the two-by-four to be quite delightful and amusing to play and tinker with, and hope my following examples might inspire you to try writing some of your own:
Collective Optimism
Everybody believes
The world
Will not
End tomorrow
Scuttling the Scuttlebutt
You say
They say
I hear
Just hearsay
Consultation With My Chiropractor
She says
“too tense”-
I picture
Simultaneous wigwams
Going Dutch
Salty licorice
Candy sandwiches
Three kisses
Wooden shoes
On the Midway at the 1979 Iowa State Fair
Sellers of
Ginzu knives
Deftly wielding
Singsong spiels
Fashion Tip No. 9
(According to My Girlfriend)
Matching socks
Are required
Only for
Fancy places
Stalking the Wild Poem
Elusive thoughts
And emotions
Caught in
Verbal cages
Telegraphic Choreography
Morris (code)
Dancing – polka
Dots and
Conga lines
Playing a Hunch(back)
Spinal intuition
Tells me
Notre Dame
Will win
In Celebration of Mr. Presley’s Controversial
Appearance on the Milton Berle Television Show
(June 5th, 1956)
Flagrant undulations
Rocking p(Elvis)
Rolling Hip
Hip hurray!!!
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Published by Paul Szlosek
Paul Szlosek was born in Southbridge, Massachusetts, but currently resides in the nearby metropolis of Worcester. He was co-founder and host of the long-running Poet’s Parlor poetry reading in Southbridge and Sturbridge, as well as a past recipient of the Jacob Knight Award for Poetry. His poems have appeared in various local publications including the Worcester Review, Worcester Magazine, Sahara, Concrete Wolf, and Diner. He’s probably best known in the Worcester poetry community for his fanatical obsession with obscure poetry forms, and has invented his own including the ziggurat, the streetbeatina, and (most recently) the hodgenelle.
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Paul's Poetry Playground 
Paul, I love it. I am very interested in learning new forms of poetry. Must try this one. Am following your blig now. It looks realky interesting. Lorraine
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Thank you so very much, Lorraine! I really appreciate the follow, and hope you will enjoy my blog. I am really obsessed with finding and trying obscure and odd poetic forms which I love sharing with others. I do hope you will try writing your own tw0-by-fours.
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Oh indeed I will Paul. I am an invererate tryer outer of different forms. I really look forward to it,
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Very interesting, thank you once again, Paul, this looks like poetic playtime for sure!
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You are very welcome, Carolyn! I am especially happy to be able to share the two-by-four form on my blog because there doesn’t appear to be any other mention of them on the web.
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Very cool! I’ll have to write some too.
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Oh, how fun! Thank you for sharing!
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You are very welcome, Eugenia!
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😉
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Reblogged this on BrewNSpew and commented:
Sharing an interesting poetry form from Paul –
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Wow..such a treat Paul….very interesting form..
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Thank you so much! I do find this form fascinating. It’s fairly simple, yet still it provides a bit of a challenge to write.
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Loved your 2×4’s! Especially – “Stalking the Wild Poem
Elusive thoughts
And emotions
Caught in
Verbal cages”
Thanks for sharing this and exposing me to yet another poetry format, My Friend!! Bravo!
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Thank you so much! It is so gratifying to hear that you liked the poems. And you are very welcome! I really enjoy sharing these poetry forms with other poets,
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Reblogged this on The Reluctant Poet.
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Thanks for another obscure, fun form, Paul. I’ll try some and link back to you 🙂
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