Pantoum, Poetry, Theme Prompt, Writing Challenge, Writing Prompts

The Lighthouse Keeper: A Pantoum

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Written for Wea’ve Written Weekly.
Our PoW, Reena, invites us to
explore the music of repetition
by writing a pantoum poem*.

Image by Me & Gemini

The lighthouse keeper counts the ships that pass,
each one a stranger’s story he will never know.
He trims the wick and watches the light hold fast,
while fog rolls in from where the dark tides flow.

Each one a stranger’s story he will never know,
the radio hums with voices out at sea.
While fog rolls in from where the dark tides flow,
he writes their names in a book that no one reads.

The radio hums with voices out at sea,
somewhere a woman waits for one who won’t return.
He writes their names in a book that no one reads,
and turns the lens another slow degree.

Somewhere a woman waits for one who won’t return.
He trims the wick and watches the light hold fast,
and turns the lens another slow degree ….
the lighthouse keeper counts the ships that pass.

NAR©2026
#W3

Nancy’s Notes: *A pantoum is a poem of any length built from a series of four-lind stanzas (quatrains) where specific lines are repeated in a cascading, interlocking pattern. It can be any number of stanzas, though four or five stanzas are most common. Traditional Western pantoums often use an alternating ABAB rhyme scheme in each stanza, but modern and contemporary pantoums frequently do not rhyme at all. To bring the poem full circle, the final stanza traditionally uses the opening stanza’s third line as its second line, and the poem’s opening line as its closing line.

This is “Lighthouse Keeper” by Shayfer James

W3 Prompt #228: Wea’ve Written Weekly

Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, except where otherwise indicated, and may not be used without permission. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.

36 thoughts on “The Lighthouse Keeper: A Pantoum”

    1. David, thank you so much. This was my first experience with a pantoum, reading or writing one, and I was quite taken with it. I want to thank you for your lovely comments and for hosting such a platform where we can be exposed to new and wonderful forms of poetry! 🥰

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  9. The pantoum form is absolute perfection for this topic, Nancy! The cascading, repeated lines mirror the slow, cyclical rhythm of the lighthouse lens turning and the endless ocean tides. ‘He writes their names in a book that no one reads’ is such a poignant, lingering line. Stunning work! 🕯️🌊

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