Writing Prompt: Didactic Cinquain Poem

The cinquain is a short form of poetry that comes from the French word ‘cinq’ meaning ‘five’. A cinquain has five lines.

There are many different forms of cinquain. I like the didactic cinquain, because it builds awareness of word groups (nouns, verbs and adjectives) and with just 11 words, you have to make every word count! Don’t waste words with ‘the’ or ‘and’. No repeats. Each word must say something new.

Bonus thing I like? It has a fun counting pattern.
Bonus bonus thing I like? You never know what other writing this muscle-pumping poetry exercise will inspire!

Format:

Line One:   One noun
Line Two:     Two adjectives
Line Three: Three verbs
Line Four:    Four-word phrase
Line Five:     One different noun

Example:

buses
clumsy, rectangular
lurch, hiss, lumber
save fuel, reduce pollution
transport
© Kathryn Apel – All rights reserved.