Five Cinquains

^{B y A. Gagliardi}

Clematis

Clematis.

White blossoms

inflate my heart

with pleasure of unsuspected

beauty.

The Snow

Snow falls

around our tree,

softly, steadily, cloak-

ing our marriage bed and shouting

enough!

Oh My!

Missed your birthday!

Can't believe how time flies.

Thought you were set upon the throne

of youth.

Says You

Says you,

the umpteenth time.

“All your opinions are

mine.” Unless I choose to differ

with you.

Wren

Small bird

at my window

sitting, singing, looking

in - eying my lunch crackers greed-

i-ly .

A cinquain is a precisely counted five lined poem. (A.K.A. a quintain or qintet) It can stand alone as a poem or act as a stanza or stanzas withing a larger work. It is thought that this form or poetry originated in French medieval times. The Cinquain tells a little story, with some action or expresses feeling.

The counting is in the words or the syllables and there are a specified number on each line.

1. line one: is one word ( a noun or a subject - the title)
2. line two: ( consists of two words that describe line one, usually adjectives describing the title)
3. line three: (three words that provide action, usually verbs or words ending in -ing)
4. line four: (four words that provide feeling, and may be one phrase or complete the sentence)

line five: (One word again; a noun that sums it up, or is a synonym for line one)

If you look just at syllables, this type of poem provides an opportunity and a challenge to write a poem with meaning in just twenty two syllables.

1. Line one: 2 noun syllables
2. Line two: 4 adjective syllables
3. Line three: 6 verb syllables
4. Line four: 8 syllables
5. Line five: 2 synonym syllables.

Writing a poem using this last syllable count, a Didactic Cinquain technique, also provides the release of word choice, so it doesn't matter wither the word is a noun, verb, adjective, or synonym.

Cinquain

_{By Grant}

Kitten

Playful, funny

Running, playing, licking

Kittens are mini tigers. Roar

Kitty!

The Clown

_{By Kyjuan}

The clown

Crazy, funny

Scarying, jumping, running.

The clown is tricky, magical

performance.

Cool Cat

_{By Latianna}

Cool Cat

furry, funny

eating, licking, playing

She loves her kittens very much

Mother.

Dessert

_{By Aysia}

Dessert

Yummy, oh my

dancing, celebrating, enjoying

on my birthday delicious cake

party.

Dark Night

_{By Jacqulynn}

Dark night

frighten, scary,

yelling, screaming, running.

People crying over strange noise.

Thunder!

Pickles

_{By Harry}

Pickles

green and bumpy

sitting, doing nothing.

Pickles are very sour and weird

cucumbers.

Oh, Chips

_{By Kentrell}

Oh, chips

tasty, sweet

brown, tiny, crispy

smooth, brown, salty, chocolate chip

snack.

Cutie

_{By Phataja}

Cutie

noisy, playful

breaking, rolling, puppies

black as the night, smart as

my pet.

Cinquain Poem

_{By Aidan}

kitkat

rich and creamy

eyeing, looking, drooling

can’t wait to sink your teeth into

cocoa

Dog

_{By Betsy}

Puppy

playful, happy

playing, sleeping, running

I throw a ball, he catches it

Doggy.

Cinquain

_{By Aislin}

Butter

silky, creamy

drooling, waiting, sneaking,

licking my fingers and dreaming

cream stick

Cinquain

_{By Olivia}

Ice cream

toppings, yummy

sugar, smelling, licking

ice cream is so delicious

Brain freeze!

Cinquain

_{By Miles}

Snowflake

graceful, falling

freezing, flying, dancing

delightful flowing in the air

white snow

My Cat

_{By Quentin}

My Cat

pooping icky

licking, scratching, napping

My cat is a scratching beast, roar!

Meow!

Piehka

_{By Aiisha}

Piehka

playful, graceful

playing, laughing, jumping

fun for all of the kids yahoo

School

Fun Pet

_{By Justin}

Fun Pet

furry and loud

purring, licking, sleeping

moves very fast and agilely

Kitten

Cookies

_{By Haydan}

Cookies

Wonder, yummy

Eating, munching, snacking

Mega delicious flour baked

Biscuit

Cowboy

_{By Preston}

Cowboy

menacing, wild

calming, weirdo, awesome.

When the cowboy meets his cowgirl

lasso!

Dessert

_{By Umayyah}

Dessert

yummy, sugary

eating, laughing, playing

blue cone with cotton candy fun

so good!

Cinquain

_{by Jaida}

Kitten

playful, funny

playing, jumping, running

little cats playing with big cats

kitty

I recently had the pleasure of teaching a "making Cinquains" Lesson to third graders in the school where I teach. The students were witty, bright, funny and intriguing. And they worked tocome up with great poetry! Check out the poems they created.

Now it's your turn to try a Cinquain poem. Put your work in a comment below. We would love to see what you come up with.

Thanks for playing our game of poetry.