Cinquains June 17, 2009

Cinquains are five-line poems popularized by Adelaide Crapsey. She did not invent the five-line poem, but instead re-invented it based on the simplicity of the haiku. One of the most common Crapsey cinquains follows this pattern: the first line has 1 word, the second 3, the third 5, the fourth 4, and the fifth 2.

Because it is so restrictive — limiting the poet to few words — the cinquain can be challenging. While the form is not a favorite in American poetry, it is lovely when mastered.

I wrote this cinquain a few years ago. It utilizes the word pattern 1, 3, 5, 4, 2 and the syllable pattern 2, 4, 6, 8, 2.

“Sumac.” Clinch Mountain Review (2006). Author: Neva Bryan. Editor: Warren Harris.

SUMAC

Sumac,
Fuzzy head bent,
Reminds me where I am:
Appalachia, backbone worn down
With grief.

Vast Mysteries April 11, 2008

VAST MYSTERIES:

 

 

shells rattle on shore

like discarded bones

of ocean,

gulls track haikus across the sand,

limpid jellyfish parachute below the surf,

but always I turn

away.

 

Flimsy shores crumble beneath the touch

of sea’s salty fingers

but my mountains stand.

 

Black-seamed

folds of earth wear

down under steel

and fire and time.

 

I’d rather waltz

between locust thorns

than tread across dunes.

 

Bed me down in honeysuckle,

sleep in the blue

bliss of ancient hills.

 

 

 

“Vast Mysteries.” A! Magazine for the Arts, vol. 15, no. 4. (April 2008), on-line.