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Ephemeral poem

Genre
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A poem created or shared for a fleeting moment in performance or digital space

Detailed Definition
Ephemeral poem is any poetic work conceived or experienced as temporary—through performance, erasure, digital decay, or natural materials—prioritizing presence and impermanence over archival preservation, often as commentary on mortality or media saturation.
Example
Example in poetry:
William Carlos Williams’s “The Red Wheelbarrow” freezes a moment in ephemeral poem form; Bashō’s haiku “On a withered branch / a crow has alighted— / autumn evening” embodies ephemerality; Frank O’Hara’s “Poem (Lana Turner has collapsed!)” captures tabloid immediacy; Aram Saroyan’s one-word poem “lighght” plays with visual and temporal ephemerality; Claudia Rankine’s micro-scenes in “Citizen” function as ephemeral poems of racial encounter; Natalie Diaz’s “When My Brother Was an Aztec” includes ephemeral moments of familial tenderness amid chaos.
Additional Notes
Verse treating temporary subjects or written for specific moment. May explore impermanence itself. Modern concept. Opposite: timeless/universal poetry. Related: occasional poetry.
Also Known As
Transient verse Momentary composition Fleeting poetry Passing piece Moment poem
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