The late Anthony Hecht, a poet of great formal prowess, invented the light-verse form known as the double dactyl. The form consists of two quatrains; the last line of the first rhymes withe last line of the second; each of the other lines in the poem must consist of exactly two dactylic feet. Further requirements: the poem’s first line must be a nonsense double dactyl; the second line must be a double dactylic name; somewhere in the poem, optimally in the antepenultimate line, there must occur a double dactylic line that is one word long. For more on the double dactyl, and other forms rare and unusual, take a look at Ecstatic Occasions, Expedient Forms, in which 85 poets (including Mr. Hecht) select and comment on one of their poems, and a glossary fills you in on "anaphora," "lipogram," "sestina," "touchstones," and "word golf."
A dactyl is the inverse of an anapest. Of the three feet in the dactyl, the emphasis falls on the first; the second and third are unstressed. "Washington," "Roosevelt," "Kennedy," "Romeo," and "Juliet" are five one-word dactyls.
— DL
Professionalism
Higgledy-piggledy,
Quintus Tertullian
Drew on his Rhetoric
With his last breath,
(Sesquipedalian
Valedictorian)
Boring his near ones and
Dear ones to death.
— Anthony Hecht