Writing Wednesday: Poetry Part 3

 Writing Wednesday: Poetry Month part 3

Tanka

In keeping with my love for brief, my last poem of focus for Poetry Month is the tanka. This Japanese poem structure has 31 syllables and means “short song”. Think of it as a combination of a haiku and couplet because:

🇯🇵 line 1 has 5 syllables

🇯🇵 line 2 has 7 syllables 

🇯🇵 line 3 has 5 syllables (so far just like haiku!)

🇯🇵 line 4 has 7 syllables 

🇯🇵 line 5 has 7 syllables

Traditionally the entire poem flowed in one line, but don’t let the fear of a run-on sentence deter you from creating this poetic form. Just like haiku, it can be about nature. Just like a couplet, you can add rhyme and rhythm. 

Writing Task

Take the time to draft a tanka poem. It is a short verse that can help you play with word choice or analyze a part of nature or theme. 

When the tulips bloom,

I take a pause to reflect 

On its erect stem,

Vibrant shades of yellow and 

Red that inspire this verse.

Writing Wednesday: Poetry Part 2

 

Writing Wednesday: Poetry Part 2

Continuing with the theme of poetry, this Wednesday is focusing on the couplet.

From the elementary perspective, poems are lines that rhyme, typically in an AB pattern. However, two lines are so simple to rhyme because you can just get it over with right away. 

Is today the day

To come over to play?

(You can get a child rhyming every sentence said with that, so be careful what you start.)

If you love playing with rhyme or want to start small and build stanzas like blocks, look to a couplet.

Couplets are another great brief form of poetry, recognizable with its two lines. After that, there is some flexibility in the form. 

• Most couplets rhyme, but not required. 

• A couplet can be closed (ending with punctuation) or open and carrying into another couplet or verse

• Couplets can stand alone, or they can be stanzas in a longer poem.

• Traditionally it has a rhythm such as iambic pentameter, but there are also free form couplets.

Writing Task

The great thing about writing couplets is that you can take as little or as much time creating one. Your creativity can go as far as you want to take it. I actually found inspiration searching for rhymes on websites like RhymeZone.com. Challenge your word choice, grammar structure, and even rhythm with a couplet. In my example below, I felt that my first couplet could easily stand alone, but just like the lines in this form of poetry, it needed another stanza to make a pair.

A simple, yet worthy poem of spring;

A couplet that rhymes and ends with zing.

Cheeky and brief, like a smile passing by

Not long or drawn out; a blink of an eye.

Feel free to share any of your couplets in the comments below.

Writing Wednesday: Poetry

 

In this new series Writing Wednesday, I want to address different ways to express yourself in a variety of written forms. It may feel like school, but that was when some parts of writing were easy and fun. And if writing wasn't fun for you back then, maybe a fresh start will help you take another look at it. 

School notebooks were my favorite writing medium. From passing notes to jotting down inspirations, there were always notebooks close to me. I still use them from time to time, and there is often a treasure to find in any spiral notebook around my house. 

Most of the notebooks held poetry. There is something about words full of imagery and lyrics that express my thoughts. Even better, poetry is often brief. I love brief. Sometimes it is hard to tell a whole story when all you want to do is freeze a moment in time or encapsulate an object for further study. 

One of my favorite lessons I recall from student teaching was poetry writing during April for Poetry Month. Before we worked on our own poems, I would read aloud to the second graders from some of the greats like Jack Prelutsky or Shel Silverstein because they made poetry fun. Later I discovered Brod Bagert. Look up Giant Children and see if you can find "Booger Love". Yes, an ode to snot. 

While many poetry is seen as schmaltzy and rhyming, some forget that there are other forms. There are numerous forms and structures of poetry. Haiku is the epitome of brief to me with the challenge of lines and syllables. But there are others that are even simpler than that.

Acrostic Poetry

What could be more simple than taking a word and writing a word for each letter? Primary students describe themselves with their name:

Red

Apple

Cards

Happy

Elephant

Laughs

What else can be said about RACHEL other than she likes the color red, eating apples, playing cards, and is a happy person who likes elephants and laughing? Or what about a more witty version such as:

Ravishing

Adorable

Charismatic

Humble

Effervescent

Lunatic

Everything changes with the right vocabulary.

Writing Task

Each Wednesday it is a good time to take a few minutes to channel your creativity in writing. It will be brief and fun. Make your own acrostic using a word of your choosing. All you need is one word for this exercise, but you can always expand to phrases too. Here is my writing example for your reading pleasure.

See if you can find the message

Embedded in my unrhymed verse

Created in fun

Rather than laborious, lengthy structure;

Every word thoughtfully placed

To create an acrostic poem

Feel free to share your acrostic poetry results in the comments below.