The Creative Life: The Cinquain

Numbers. September 2010.

In my little black-and-white composition book was a scribble about cinquains.

A cinquain is a poem with five lines, non-rhyming, in which:

• Line 1 has 2 syllables
• Line 2 has 4 syllables
• Line 3 has 6 syllables
• Line 4 has 8 syllables
• Line 5 has 2 syllables

From WriteShop:

Typically, a cinquain follows this sequence:

• Line A: One vague or general one-word subject or topic
• Line B: Two vivid adjectives that describe the topic
• Line C: Three interesting -ing action verbs that fit the topic
• Line D: Four-word phrase that captures feeling about the topic
• Line E: A very specific term that explains Line A

Examples, both from WriteShop:

Insect
Hidden, hungry
Preening, searching, stalking
Waits as if praying
Mantis

Planet
Graceful, ringed
Spinning, whirling, twirling
Dances with neighbor Jupiter
Saturn

My experiment

Feardom

Effluent, dark

Arching Searching Grasping

Reaches to suck me down but. No.

Freedom

Log bridge over mineral spring, Borjomi, Georgia (Caucasus). April 2012.