Visual artists sometimes talk about using “found objects” in their artwork. In other words, they collect interesting things during the course of a normal day (such as bus tickets, objects from nature, or a toy found on the street) and then find a way to incorporate those objects into their artwork.
Did you know that you can do the same thing with language? A “found poem” is created by collecting interesting text from the world around us and then using those words to make a poem. When you create poetry this way, you are acting like a documentary filmmaker—using scenes from real life to tell an interesting story.
Here are three simple and fun ways to create “found poetry” from the language that is all around you.
Calling all poets! TIME For Kids has a challenge for you: Write a funny, rhyming poem. It must be an original poem that does not copy another poet’s work. Enter it in the TIME For Kids Poetry Contest. The grand-prize winner will receive an online class visit from poet Kenn Nesbitt. The grand-prize winner and four finalists will each get a signed copy of one of Nesbitt’s books of poetry, and their poems will be published at timeforkids.com.
One of the easiest ways to write a funny poem of your own is to take any song you know – preferably a song that other people know too – and change the words to make your song. When you do this it’s called a “parody” or a “song parody” because it is a humorous imitation of the original song.
The first thing you will need to do to create your own parody is to pick a song. I recommend you choose a well-known children’s song such as “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” or “I’m a Little Teapot,” or a famous holiday song like “Jingle Bells,” rather than, say, a modern pop song. The reason is that more people will know the original tune, especially adults who may not be familiar with the latest songs on the radio.
Here is a list of songs to choose from (though there are many more than just these that will work well):
Oh My Darling, Clementine
The Itsy-Bitsy Spider
On Top of Old Smokey
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Miss Susie
My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
Yankee Doodle
Rewriting My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
Once you’ve picked a song, you’ll want to take a look at the original lyrics. For example, let’s look at the song “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.” The original goes like this:
My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
My Bonnie lies over the ocean,
My Bonnie lies over the sea.
My Bonnie lies over the ocean,
Please bring back my Bonnie to me.
Bring back, bring back,
Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me, to me.
Bring back, bring back,
Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me.
To change this into a new song, we will want to keep the same rhythm and the same rhyme pattern. That is, we’ll want to have the second line rhyme with the fourth line, just as in the original. We’ll probably also want to have something or someone lying on top of something or someone else. Let’s just change “Bonnie” and the thing that “Bonnie” is on.
For example, let’s say instead of “My Bonnie” I decide to have “My bunny” lie on top of something. What might that be? Perhaps, my bunny could lie on top of one of my other pets, like this:
My bunny lies over doggy.
Next, I could have my bunny lie on top of something else. Or maybe I could have the dog lie on top of something else, and make a stack of animals, like this:
My bunny lies over my doggy.
My doggie lies over my cat.
My cat is on top of my froggy,
and that’s why my froggy is flat.
Okay, I think that’s pretty funny so I’ll keep it. But now I need to write a chorus to replace “Bring back, bring back.” I’m thinking about how my froggy just got squished by my other pets, and that sounds like a “green splat” to me, so here’s the chorus:
Green splat, green splat,
oh, that’s why my froggy is flat, like that.
Green splat, green splat,
oh, that’s why my froggy is flat.
And, just like that, we’ve got a brand new song parody.
Rewriting Take Me Out to the Ballgame
Let’s try another example. The song “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” is well known, and was even parodied by Alan Katz in his books Take Me Out of the Bathtub and I’m Still Here in the Bathtub. Let’s see if we can’t make our own version.
First, let’s look at the lyrics to the original song:
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Take me out to the ball game
Take me out to the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack
I don’t care if I ever get back,
‘Cause it’s root, root, root for the home team.
If they don’t win it’s a shame.
For it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out
At the old ball game.
To make a parody of this, let’s start by changing the “ball game” to something else. Can you think of some place you’d rather go than to a ball game? In order to keep the original rhythm, it will need to be some place that is still two syllables. What if we went to the movies instead? Then our first two lines might go like this:
Take me out to the movies.
Take me out to a show.
Now I need to say something, maybe about what kind of movies I like. Also, notice that “Cracker Jack” rhymes with “back,” so my next two lines need to rhyme as well.
I like explosions in every scene,
robots and aliens up on the screen.
Hey, I’m liking the way this is sounding… But to finish it off and make it funny, I want to say something about what kind of movies I don’t like. I don’t want to see any mushy love stories, so I’m going to end my song like this:
I like ninjas, pirates, and cowboys,
and giant man-eating plants
There’s just one thing I will not see;
I want no romance!
Notice that I rhymed the words “plants” and “romance” in the same spots where the original song had the words “shame” and “game.” This is because I want to keep the rhyme scheme the same as in the original song.
Your Turn
Now it’s your turn to make up your own silly song parody. Here’s all you have to do:
Pick a song
Change the first line just enough to make it different but still recognizable
Keep the original rhythm and the original rhyme scheme
Kenn Nesbitt, former U.S. Children's Poet Laureate, is celebrated for blending humor and heart in his poetry for children. Known for books such as "My Cat Knows Karate" and "Revenge of the Lunch Ladies," he captivates young readers globally.
It is easy to learn to write a haiku, but it can take a lot of practice to learn how to do it well. This lesson will give you the basics for writing your own haiku. It’s up to you to practice by writing a lot of them so you will get very good at it.
What is a Haiku?
A haiku is an unrhymed three-line poem. It is based on a traditional Japanese poetic form. Though there are different ways to write haiku, the traditional pattern in English is to write the first and last lines with five syllables each, and the middle line with seven syllables. In other words, the pattern of syllables looks like this:
Line 1: 5 syllables
Line 2: 7 syllables
Line 3: 5 syllables
Here’s another way to visualize the same thing:
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5
Most often, haiku poems are about seasons or nature, though you can write your own haiku about anything you like. If you don’t want to write about nature, and would prefer to write haiku about candy or sports, that is perfectly okay.
One more thing to keep in mind is that the last line of a haiku usually makes an observation. That is, the third line points out something about the subject you are writing about.
Let’s see how we can put these few rules together get your started writing your own haiku poems.
Haiku About Seasons
Let’s say that you decide to write your haiku about a season. First you will want to select a season: spring, summer, fall, or winter. I’ve decided to write a haiku about winter, and I know that in the last line I will want to make an observation. I want to say that winter is almost here, but we aren’t quite ready for the snow. Maybe it’s that we haven’t raked the leaves off the front lawn and we need to do it soon before it snows.
I want to say all of this, but I want to do it in a pattern of 5, 7, 5. So I might say something like this:
Winter is coming.
Snow will be arriving soon.
We should rake the leaves.
If you count the syllables on your fingers as you read this poem, you will see that the lines have five syllables, seven syllables, and five syllables, just as they should.
Haiku About Nature
If you decide to write a haiku about nature, you will have many more subjects to choose from. You could write about animals, plants, the sky, the ocean, streams, the wind, and so on. Start by selecting a topic, and then decide what you want to say; what observation you want to make about it.
For example, I have decided to write a haiku about my cat. One thing I notice about my cat is that he sleeps a lot. In fact, I’m pretty sure he sleeps almost all night and all day. I’m not sure how he can be so tired. In any case, here is my haiku:
Tired cat sleeps all night.
He needs lots of rest for a
Long day of napping.
Funny Haiku
Just because most haiku poems are about seasons or nature doesn’t mean that’s all they can be about. If you want, you can even write funny haiku poems. One way to make a haiku funny is to have an unexpected last line. For example, if the last line says the opposite of what the reader expects, it becomes like the punchline of a joke. It also helps to write about a funny subject.
As an example, I decided it would be funny to write a haiku excuse for why I can’t turn in my homework. Here it is:
My homework is late.
My dog ate it this morning.
I sure like my dog.
Notice that this ending is unexpected. Most readers would expect the poem to end with something like “can I turn it in tomorrow?” or “I’m mad at dog” or something like that. By saying “I sure like my dog,” I am telling the reader something they don’t expect, which will hopefully make them smile.
Getting Started Writing Haiku
To begin writing haiku poems, just follow these steps:
Select a type of haiku. Decide if you are going to write a seasonal, nature, or other type of haiku.
Pick a topic. Select one specific season, item in nature, or something else you are going to write about.
Think about what is different about your last line. What observation do you want to make?
Start writing.
Don’t forget to count the syllables as you read to make sure you’ve got the right pattern.
Finally, “center” your poem on the page like the poems in this lesson.
When you are all done writing your first haiku, see if you can write another one. And, most importantly, have fun!
Kenn Nesbitt, former U.S. Children's Poet Laureate, is celebrated for blending humor and heart in his poetry for children. Known for books such as "My Cat Knows Karate" and "Revenge of the Lunch Ladies," he captivates young readers globally.
If you want to write a poem, but you’re not sure where to start, try taking a poem you already know and changing it. While you can do this with any kind of poem, Mother Goose nursery rhymes are one of the easiest. It’s always fun to take a nursery rhyme and change a few words to make it funny.
First, you’ll need to choose a nursery rhyme or a well-known song such as “Row Your Boat.” There are hundreds to choose from, but here are some of the most popular ones to choose from:
Yankee Doodle
Humpty Dumpty
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Hickory Dickory Dock
There Was an Old Woman
Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater
How to Fracture a Nursery Rhyme
After you’ve selected a poem, you’ll need to find the words that rhyme. They should be easy to find because the rhyming words are usually at the end of each line, or the end of every other line. For example, you may have heard the Mother Goose nursery rhyme about the old woman who lived in a shoe. If not, here it is:
There was an old woman,
Who lived in a shoe;
She had so many children,
She didn’t know what to do.
She gave them some broth,
Without any bread;
She whipped them all soundly,
And sent them to bed.
Notice that this poem rhymes on every other line. The word shoe rhymes with do and bread rhymes with bed.
Let’s change this poem starting with the first rhyme. Where else could this woman live? Should we put her in a hat? Perhaps on a boat? Maybe in a drawer? You see, if she could live in a shoe, she could live just about anywhere, so I’ve decided that for my poem, she will live in a box.
There was an old woman
who lived in a box,
Now we need to find some words that rhyme with box. I like socks, fox, rocks, and locks, but I think locks will work best because houses usually have locks. So I’ll write two more lines, like this:
There was an old woman
who lived in a box.
It didn’t have windows
or doorknobs or locks.
Now I’d also like to make this poem funny. I think the idea of a person living in a box is pretty funny by itself, but I wonder what a person might do if they lived in a box. How many things can you think of to do if your house was a box? Would you gift wrap your house for Christmas? Maybe you would be happy that you no longer lived in a shoe? Or how about something like this:
There was an old woman
who lived in a box.
It didn’t have windows
or doorknobs or locks.
She wanted to travel
the world and so
she mailed her house
where she wanted to go.
Getting Started
Remember, once you’ve selected a poem, you want to change the word that rhymes. Here are some examples
Put Humpty Dumpty on something besides a wall
Change the color of Mary’s lamb
Feed “Peter, Peter” something besides pumpkin
And don’t forget about nursery songs. Here are a few you can choose from:
Row, Row, Row Your Boat – How about “Ride, Ride, Ride Your Bike,” or “Pet, Pet, Pet Your Cat?”
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star – What else twinkles besides stars? A diamond ring? A traffic light?
Yankee Doodle – What could he ride besides a pony? Maybe a rhino? Or a monkey?
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep – What would you ask her for besides wool? How about cash?
Now it’s your turn to put your own ideas on paper and see what kinds of fractured nursery rhymes you can come up. Remember to follow these three steps:
Pick a poem or song
Find the words that rhyme
Choose new rhyming words to make a new poem or song
And, most importantly, have fun!
By the way, if you’d like to learn how to write a traditional Mother Goose-style nursery rhyme, check out this fun poetry-writing lesson:
Kenn Nesbitt, former U.S. Children's Poet Laureate, is celebrated for blending humor and heart in his poetry for children. Known for books such as "My Cat Knows Karate" and "Revenge of the Lunch Ladies," he captivates young readers globally.
Limericks are one of the most fun and well-known poetic forms. No one knows for sure where the name “limerick” comes from, but most people assume it is related to the county of Limerick, in Ireland.
The reason limericks are so much fun is because they are short, rhyming, funny, and have a bouncy rhythm that makes them easy to memorize. In this lesson, I’ll show you how you can write your own limericks in just a few easy steps.
The Rules of Limericks
Limericks, like all poetic forms, have a set of rules that you need to follow. The rules for a limerick are fairly simple:
They are five lines long.
Lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme with one another.
Lines 3 and 4 rhyme with each other.
They have a distinctive rhythm (which I’ll explain shortly)
They are usually funny.
Rhyming a Limerick
The rhyme scheme of a limerick is known as “AABBA.” This is because the last words in lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme. Those are the “A’s” in the rhyme scheme. The “B’s” are the last words of lines 3 and 4. Let me give you an example:
There was a young fellow named Hall
Who fell in the spring in the fall.
‘Twould have been a sad thing
Had he died in the spring,
But he didn’t—he died in the fall.
— Anonymous
Notice that the words, “Hall,” “fall,” and “fall” all rhyme. Those are the “A” words in the “AABBA” rhyme scheme. Also notice that “thing” and “spring” rhyme. Those are the “B” words in the rhyme scheme.
Limerick Rhythm
Now let’s take a look at the rhythm of the limerick. It goes by the complicated name “anapaestic,” but you don’t need to worry about that. What I want you to notice when you read or recite a limerick is that the first two lines and the last line have three “beats” in them, while the third and fourth lines have two “beats.” In other words, the rhythm of a limerick looks like this:
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
The rhythm doesn’t have to exactly match this, but it needs to be close enough that it sounds the same when you read it. For example, using the limerick above about the fellow from Hall, if we emphasize the beats, it reads like this:
there WAS a young FELLow named HALL
who FELL in the SPRING in the FALL.
‘twould have BEEN a sad THING
had he DIED in the SPRING,
but he DIDn’t—he DIED in the FALL.
Let’s take a look at another famous limerick:
There was an old man of Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket;
But his daughter, named Nan,
Ran away with a man,
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.
— Anonymous
If you emphasize the beats when you read it, it comes out like this:
there WAS an old MAN of NanTUCKet
who KEPT all his CASH in a BUCKet;
but his DAUGHTer, named NAN,
ran aWAY with a MAN,
and AS for the BUCKet, NanTUCKet.
Some Limerick Tricks
There are two more things that you will notice when you read limericks:
The first line usually ends with a person’s first name or the name of a place.
The last line is usually funny.
Because the first line is usually the name of a person or place, writing the first line is the easiest part. You simply pick the name of a place or person – like “New York” or “Dave” – and write a line like this:
There once was a man from New York
Or
There was an old woman named Dave
Then go to your rhyming dictionary and start looking for rhymes like “cork,” “fork,” “pork,” “stork,” or “cave,” “gave,” “wave,” and so on to find more words to complete your limerick.
Once you’ve found some rhyming words, you’ll want to start thinking about a funny ending for your poem. I find it’s easiest to write lines 1, 2, and 5 first, and then to fill in lines 3 and 4 afterward. For example, I decided to write a limerick about someone from Seattle, so I started it like this:
A talkative man from Seattle
would spend his days speaking to cattle.
I then noticed that the word “prattle” rhymed with “cattle” and “Seattle” so I wrote the last line, like this:
She said, “Why it’s nothing but prattle!”
Finally, I went back and wrote lines 3 and 4 to complete the limerick:
A talkative man from Seattle
would spend his days speaking to cattle.
When asked what he said,
one old cow shook her head,
and replied, “Why it’s nothing but prattle!”
You’ll notice that I changed the last line after I wrote lines 3 and 4. I did this so the poem would make more sense. It’s okay to change your words at any time if it improves the poem.
Your Turn
Now it’s your turn to see if you can write a limerick of your own. Remember to follow these steps:
Choose the name of a person or place and write the first line.
Look in a rhyming dictionary for words that rhyme with your person or place name.
Write line 2 and 5 to rhyme with the first line.
Now write lines 3 and 4 with a different rhyme.
When you are done writing, read your limerick out loud to see if it has the right rhythm; three “beats” on lines 1, 2, and 5, and two “beats” on lines 3 and 4, as shown above. If not, see if you can rewrite some words to get the rhythm right.
Limericks Take Practice
I know that writing limericks is going to seem hard at first because it’s sometimes difficult to get the rhythm, the rhymes, and the joke to all work together. But don’t worry; with a little practice, you’ll soon be creating funny limericks of your own that will make your friends and family laugh. Have fun!
Worksheet
Click here to download a limerick writing worksheet
Kenn Nesbitt, former U.S. Children's Poet Laureate, is celebrated for blending humor and heart in his poetry for children. Known for books such as "My Cat Knows Karate" and "Revenge of the Lunch Ladies," he captivates young readers globally.
I was nine years old when my family went water-skiing every day for an entire summer. We’d get up early, fix enough sandwiches to fill the cooler, and head for the lake in our midnight blue 1967 Cadillac Coupe de Ville, ski-boat in tow. On the best days, we would arrive before the wind had kicked up, when the lake was still a glassy calm.
Somehow, my dad’s job with a heating and air conditioning company allowed him to work mainly in the spring and fall. With summers free, my parents took us to the lake every day; me and my two brothers, Hap and Danny, and our friend Jimmy. Hap was the one with the crew-cut. Danny looked just like me, only more devious. We were all skinny, tanned, and a little too wild.
This was 1971, and the car had only an AM radio. No FM, no 8-track player, and certainly no DVDs or video games. A trip to the lake meant over an hour in the car each way, along winding mountain roads where the AM radio was useless, there weren’t enough other cars to play “slug bug,” and thumb wrestling got old in a hurry. Eventually–as four boys will do when stuck in the back seat of a car for an hour or two–we would begin to fight. It always started innocently enough with a “Quit touching me,” or a “Hey, that’s mine,” but would quickly erupt into a full-blown wrestling match on the floor of the car. Did I mention we also didn’t have seat belts?
A diamante – pronounced dee-uh-MAHN-tay – is an unrhymed seven-line poem. The beginning and ending lines are the shortest, while the lines in the middle are longer, giving diamante poems a diamond shape. “Diamante” is the Italian word for diamond, so this poetic form is named for this diamond shape.
Believe it or not, the diamante was invented just 40 years ago. It was created by an American poet and educator named Iris McClellan Tiedt in 1969, and has become very popular in schools.
Also known as a “diamond poem” because of its shape, there are two different types of diamantes; synonym diamantes and antonym diamantes.
The Rules of a Diamante
There are just a few rules to writing a diamante:
Diamantes are seven lines long.
The first and last lines have just one word.
The second and sixth lines have two words.
The third and fifth lines have three words.
And the fourth line has four words.
Lines 1, 4, and 7 have nouns.
Lines 2 and 6 have adjectives.
Lines 3 and 5 have verbs.
In a synonym diamante, the nouns at the beginning and end are two words that mean basically the same thing. In an antonym diamante, the two nouns are opposites. Here are a couple of examples:
Synonym Diamante
In this diamante, the words “Monsters” and “Creatures” mean the same thing, so they are synonyms.
To start writing a diamante, you first need to decide what thing you want to write about. The reason you want to pick a thing is that your first and last lines need to be nouns. In other words, your diamante will be about a noun, such as a “pencil” or a “pizza,” rather than about a verb, such as “jump” or an adjective like “smelly.” An easy thing to write about is something you like or something you see around you.
Next, you’ll want to decide whether you want to write a synonym diamante or an antonym diamante. If you want to write a synonym diamante, you’ll want to select another word that means the same thing as your subject. If you are going to write an antonym diamante, choose a word that is its opposite.
For this example, I will show you how to write an antonym diamante about the “sun,” and my second noun is “moon,” since the sun and the moon can be considered opposites.
Once you’ve chosen your two nouns, take a piece of paper and brainstorm as many words as you can that have to do with each of them. For example, make one column for each word and write down everything you can think of. You’ll want adjectives (descriptive words), verbs (action words), and even more nouns. Your lists should look something like this:
Sun
Moon
Hot
Cold
Yellow
Silver
Fiery
Night
Day
Still
Light
Orbiting
Blinding
Shining
Exploding
Beautiful
Distant
Crescent
Nuclear
Don’t worry if you have more words than you need. It’s better to have too many words to choose from than not enough.
Finally, you’ll want to arrange your diamante, putting the synonyms or antonyms at the top and bottom, the adjectives next, on lines 2 and 6, the verbs after that on lines 3 and 5, and lastly your additional nouns on the middle line.
In the top half of the poem – lines 2 and 3 – your adjectives and verbs should be ones from your first brainstorming column – words that have to do with line 1, like this:
Sun
Fiery, Yellow
Burning, Blinding, Exploding
In the bottom half of the poem – lines 5 and 6 – your adjectives and verbs should be related to the noun on line 7, like this:
Shining, Orbiting, Reflecting
Cold, Silver
Moon
On line 4, the line in the middle of the poem, the first two nouns should be related to the noun on line 1, and the last two nouns should be related to the noun on line 7, like this:
Flame, Light, Night, Crescent
When you put everything together, you’ll end up with something like this:
Kenn Nesbitt, former U.S. Children's Poet Laureate, is celebrated for blending humor and heart in his poetry for children. Known for books such as "My Cat Knows Karate" and "Revenge of the Lunch Ladies," he captivates young readers globally.
Adelaide Crapsey, American poet and creator of the modern cinquain
A cinquain – which, by the way, is pronounced “sin-cane,” not “sin-kwane” – is a form of poetry that is very popular because of its simplicity. It was created by American poet Adelaide Crapsey about 100 years ago, and is similar to Japanese poetic forms, such as haiku and tanka.
Cinquains are just five lines long, with only a few words on each line, making them easy to write. The first and last lines have just two syllables, while the middle lines have more, so they end up with a diamond-like shape, similar to the poetic form called the diamante.
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.
You can learn to write cinquains by following these few simple steps:
Decide what you would like to write about.
Brainstorm words and phrases that have to do with your idea.
Think about what story you want to tell.
Write your words and phrases in an order that tells your story, being sure to count the syllables as you go.
The Rules of a Cinquain
There are actually many different ways to write a cinquain, so I’m just going to teach you how to write a traditional cinquain, as it was defined by the poet who invented it. These are the rules:
Cinquains are five lines long.
They have 2 syllables in the first line, 4 in the second, 6 in the third, 8 in the fourth line, and just 2 in the last line.
Cinquains do not need to rhyme, but you can include rhymes if you want to.
That’s it. Just three simple rules.
If you want to, you can even memorize the syllable count by remembering this five-digit number: 24682. Repeat after me: 24682, 24682, 24682. Now you’ve got it.
Getting Started
First, you need to select a topic. That is, you need to choose something to write your cinquain about. Here are a few easy places to get ideas:
Write about your favorite thing
Write about something you don’t like
Write about something you see around you
Write about something that happens to you
Since I like ice cream, I think I’ll write a cinquain about ice cream. This is convenient since the words “ice cream” have two syllables, so I can probably use this phrase as the first line of my cinquain. If your favorite thing is pizza, soccer, your cat, etc., you could also use “soccer,” “pizza,” or “my cat” as the first line of your cinquain.
Brainstorming ideas
Once you know what you are going to write about, you need to brainstorm ideas about your topic. Think of as many things as you can and write them down on a piece of paper. It’s okay to write your ideas on one piece of paper and then write your poem on another piece of paper.
For example, I know several things about ice cream, so I’ve put them down here:
It is cold.
It is yummy.
It is sweet.
I like eating it.
These are just four ideas, but they are not yet a poem. To turn these ideas into a cinquain poem, we need to say them in a way that we have five lines with the right number of syllables on each line.
Counting Your Syllables
I recommend your count your syllables with your fingers as you write each line. If a line has too many syllables or not enough syllables, see if you can change some of the words to get the right number of syllables.
Once you get the syllable count right, make sure the poem says what you want it to say. You may need to go back and change it some more so that it tells the story you want it to.
Once your cinquain is finished, read it again, counting the syllables on your fingers to make sure you got everything right.
Ice Cream Cinquain
Here’s a cinquain that I wrote about ice cream, using the ideas that I brainstormed earlier:
Ice Cream
Ice cream.
Cold and yummy.
I love its sweet richness
as it finds its way into my
tummy.
You might notice a few things about this poem. It tells a little story. There is an action in which I eat the ice cream and it swallow it. There is a feeling expressed where I tell that I love it. And I even rhymed “yummy” with “tummy.”
Messy Room Cinquain
Let’s try another one. This time, let’s write a cinquain about having a messy room. First, we need to brainstorm ideas. Here are a few I came up with:
Dirty laundry
Toys all over the place
Mom says “clean it up”
The hamper is overflowing
I’d rather watch TV than clean my room
I don’t mind my own mess
I don’t have to use all of these ideas, but writing more ideas than I am going to actually use give me lots to choose from when I start writing the poem.
Now that I’ve got my ideas, I’ll rearrange these into a five-line story with a 24682 syllable pattern, like this:
My Messy Room
My room
is such a mess.
Toys all over the place.
Mom says, “Clean up!” But I like it
like this.
Telling a Story with Your Cinquain
I mentioned earlier that the best cinquains tell a story. An easy way to do this is to start with your subject on the first line, describe it on the second, put an action on the third line, a feeling on the fourth line, and a conclusion on the last line, like this:
Title
Subject
Description
Action
Feeling
Conclusion
You don’t have to follow this pattern exactly. For example, in the Messy Room cinquain, you’ll see that my description is on lines 2 and 3, and both the action and the feeling are on line 4. But this should give you a general pattern for telling a story.
What Are You Going to Write?
Now it’s your turn to try writing your own cinquain. Here are a few things to remember as you write:
Cinquain poems can be written about anything
They are five lines long
The syllable pattern is 2, 4, 6, 8, 2
Brainstorm ideas first
Count the syllables on your fingers
“Center” your poem on the page
Rhyme if you want to
Have fun!
Worksheet
Click here to download a cinquain-writing worksheet
Kenn Nesbitt, former U.S. Children's Poet Laureate, is celebrated for blending humor and heart in his poetry for children. Known for books such as "My Cat Knows Karate" and "Revenge of the Lunch Ladies," he captivates young readers globally.
Acrostics are a fun poetic form that anyone can write. They have just a few simple rules, and this lesson will teach you how to create acrostic poems of your own.
To begin with, an acrostic is a poem in which the first letters of each line spell out a word or phrase. The word or phrase can be a name, a thing, or whatever you like. When children write acrostics, they will often use their own first name, or sometimes the first name of a friend.
Usually, the first letter of each line is capitalized. This makes it easier to see the word spelled out vertically down the page.
Acrostics are easy to write because they don’t need to rhyme, and you don’t need to worry about the rhythm of the lines. Each line can be as long or as short as you want it to be.
Creating an Acrostic in Five Easy Steps
To create an acrostic, follow these five easy steps:
Decide what to write about.
Write your word down vertically.
Brainstorm words or phrases that describe your idea.
Place your brainstormed words or phrases on the lines that begin with the same letters.
Fill in the rest of the lines to create a poem.
Now let me show you how to follow these steps.
The first step is to decide what you would like to write an acrostic poem about. I recommend you start by writing an acrostic based on your name or on your favorite thing, whatever that happens to be. It doesn’t matter if your favorite thing is soccer, video games, chocolate, music, pizza, movies, or anything else.
An Ice Cream Acrostic
For example, I especially like ice cream, so I decided to write an acrostic about ice cream. Begin by writing the word “ICE CREAM” down the page like this:
I C E
C R E A M
Next, you want to say something about ice cream in each line. A good way to do this is to “brainstorm” lots of ideas. I wrote down a list of all the ice cream flavors I could think of, including chocolate chip, strawberry, rocky road, and others. Then I put them in a list wherever they would fit, like this:
Ice Cream
I Cookies & Cream. English Toffee.
Chocolate Chip. Rocky Road. E Almond Fudge. M
You’ll notice that I didn’t fill in all of the lines. That’s because I couldn’t think of a flavor that started with “I” and I could only think of one flavor that started with “E.” Also, I thought I would do something different with the last line, to make it an ending for the poem, rather than just another flavor.
Finally, I filled in the missing lines, like this:
Ice Cream
I love every flavor. Cookies & Cream. English Toffee.
Chocolate Chip. Rocky Road. Even Strawberry and Almond Fudge. Mmmmmmmm.
Now, just as you can write acrostics about things you like, you can also write them about things you don’t like, such as chores, homework, and so on. Here is an example acrostic about homework.
A Homework Acrostic
In addition to writing about things you like, such as ice cream, you can write acrostics about things you don’t like. For example, if you don’t like homework, you might try writing a poem about it. Begin by writing the word “HOMEWORK” down the page:
H O M E W O R K
Next, brainstorm as many words and phrases as you can think of. Here are some I came up with:
Reading for hours. Writing. Not my favorite. Every Day. I’d rather be watching TV. Makes me crazy. Overwhelming. Hard to do.
Notice that some of these words and phrases begin with the letters in the word “homework.” I put these ones in where I saw they would go:
Homework
Hard to do Overwhelming, M Every day Writing O Reading for hours. K
Finally, I found a way to fill in the rest of the words, and even give it an ending. Here is the finished acrostic:
Homework
Hard to do and sometimes Overwhelming, My teacher gives us homework Every single day! Writing for hours Or Reading for hours. Kids need a break!
A Minecraft Acrostic
Here’s one more acrostic poem I created recently with the help of kids from all around the country during an online author visit:
Minecraft
Minecraft. I love it. No doubt about it. Exploring, building, fighting Creepers, zombies, and skeletons. Roaming around for hours. A Fun Time for everyone!
Things to Remember
Here are a few things to remember as you begin writing your own acrostics:
Acrostics can be about anything!
Names are a common topic. Try writing one using your best friend’s name and giving it to him or her as a gift.
You can use single words, phrases, or even full sentences in your acrostic poem.
Finally, remember, acrostic poems are one of the easiest and most fun ways to create poems of your own. Give it a try and see what you can come up with.
Kenn Nesbitt, former U.S. Children's Poet Laureate, is celebrated for blending humor and heart in his poetry for children. Known for books such as "My Cat Knows Karate" and "Revenge of the Lunch Ladies," he captivates young readers globally.
