Poetic Forms 1: Rispetto

On my Poetic Forms pages, I will list lesser-known (to me, anyway!) poetic forms from various poetry blogs and sites with a description and with my attempts at the form.

Let's begin with a Rispetto, as described on Poetic Asides with Robert Lee Brewer, Poetry Editor, Writer's Digest.com.  Here is Robert's description, 09/26/11:


"Okay, here’s a new form. Actually, scratch that. This is a very old form (from Italy, no less). Still, new to me anyway. I found more than a few definitions, but here are the two most common variations:
Rispetto #1: Poem comprised of two quatrains written in iambic (unstress, stress) tetrameter (four feet–or, in this case, 8 syllables).
Rispetto #2: Poem (or song) comprised of 8 hendecasyllabic (11-syllable) lines–usually one stanza.
However, over the centuries, this poem has offered itself up for other subjects and variations. So feel free to experiment. Both versions appear to follow this rhyme scheme: ababccdd (though I also found a mention of an abababcc pattern). Plus, I found more than a few sources which claim rispettos were originally written to pay “respect” to a woman."

And, here's my attempt at a Rispetto:


Rispetto, Anyone ?
I thought I would appear quite sage
to try to follow Robert’s prompt,
and so rispettos on my page
cavort and leap and slink and stomp,
and feigning brilliance stare at me.
I must admit a bit of glee,
in churning out this newfound form.
If not, I would’ve been forlorn !