Dingfelder
Well-known member
Here is a poetry game maybe easier than the haiku game, but also ... harder in many ways. You choose what fits your mind this day the best. It doesn't have any of the classical poetry strictures, like use of seasonal words. There's less a sense of elegy or longing or impermanence.
The game is each person taking the last line, or at least a really good part of the last few words, to launch the first line of her own poetry. Part of the fun is envisioning something the next person can use to soar in their own way, with you to thank!
And the structure by syllables is 2-4-6-8-2. It doesn't have to rhyme.
Example:
My Messy Room
My room
is such a mess.
Toys all over the place.
Mom says, “Clean up!” But I like it
like this.
From: https://www.poetry4kids.com/lessons/how-to-write-a-cinquain-poem/
From there too:
"Though they are just five lines long, the best cinquains tell a small story. Instead of just having descriptive words, they may also have an action (something happening), a feeling caused by the action, and a conclusion or ending."
It's really weird to start trying to do, but once you get into it, it's a bit of a mind-stretch, which is always fun and healthy.
I'll start:
Like this
I scramble eggs,
Twist, whisk, never enough,
or too much, until the plate, Mom,
proves it.
Okay, that's much harder than "prove it." Small changes are fine to use. Being creative is fun, and you can change the tone from serious to elegaic to sarcastic, whatever. The point is the fun and creativity of the thing, within the bounds of the form forcing us to be creative and not just flabby.
Good luck and lets go!
The game is each person taking the last line, or at least a really good part of the last few words, to launch the first line of her own poetry. Part of the fun is envisioning something the next person can use to soar in their own way, with you to thank!
And the structure by syllables is 2-4-6-8-2. It doesn't have to rhyme.
Example:
My Messy Room
My room
is such a mess.
Toys all over the place.
Mom says, “Clean up!” But I like it
like this.
From: https://www.poetry4kids.com/lessons/how-to-write-a-cinquain-poem/
From there too:
"Though they are just five lines long, the best cinquains tell a small story. Instead of just having descriptive words, they may also have an action (something happening), a feeling caused by the action, and a conclusion or ending."
It's really weird to start trying to do, but once you get into it, it's a bit of a mind-stretch, which is always fun and healthy.
I'll start:
Like this
I scramble eggs,
Twist, whisk, never enough,
or too much, until the plate, Mom,
proves it.
Okay, that's much harder than "prove it." Small changes are fine to use. Being creative is fun, and you can change the tone from serious to elegaic to sarcastic, whatever. The point is the fun and creativity of the thing, within the bounds of the form forcing us to be creative and not just flabby.
Good luck and lets go!
