We’ve written about Robbe-Grillet before, but we had never heard of Elaine Equi’s poem A Date with Robbe-Grillet
, nor the art of the pantoum. A pantoum is a Malaysian form where:
the second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next
We agree with Lined & Unlined’s sentiment that Robbe-Grillet is the perfect subject for a pantoum, the shifting mathematical tropics of Jealousy or the unending wartime streets and blocks of In the Labyrinth being but two examples of his disorientating cyclical narratives that match the nature of this form of poetry.
Less certain, however, is if this was the perfect form for Neil Peart to use for the lyrics of The Larger Bowl (A Pantoum)
on Rush’s 2007 album, Snakes & Arrows.