This poetry form might be rather unfamiliar. I discovered it about seven years ago, but have only used it twice in Poetry Month since then.
It’s called
a Pleiades Poem! It was created in 1999 by Craig Tigerman, Editor Emeritus of
Sol Magazine, which appears to have been a poetry journal that is no longer in
publication. At any rate, he named it for a star cluster in the constellation
Taurus, “The Pleiades.”
It has some interesting requirements. You can ONLY use ONE
word for the title of the poem. It ONLY
has ONE stanza that is SEVEN LINES (so don’t go creating additional verses
– this form only has one).
AND here is
the TRICKY and FUN part ~ VERY specific!!
The
FIRST letter of each of the following 7 lines MUST start with the same letter
as the first letter of the title of the poem. Kind of reminds me of those families who named every
one of their kids with names that begin with the same letter.
So this
poetic form lends itself to a lot of alliteration!! Fun stuff!!
We will write
ours as Craig Tigerman first designed it (others have tried to add syllable
requirements, etc.), but Tigerman only said it had to be a single word title,
with seven lines, each line beginning with the same first letter as the title.
If you want
some help coming up with words that start with the same letter you can go here
and choose your letter and find lots of words that start with that letter:
http://wordfinder.yourdictionary.com/words-that-start/
Another
useful site: http://phrontistery.info/ihlstart.html Dictionary of Unusual Words – just
click on the letter of your choice and you get a plethora of unique words with
brief definitions.
I’m not
going to be able to write a new poem today, so I’ll share a few examples of
previous poems I have written in this method, starting with the first one I
tried (so silly) about cucumbers – pretty typical of the style. Then, a couple
of years later, when we were in the midst of the pandemic, I found myself
discouraged, so I wrote the first poem, and then I decided to look for some
silver linings and wrote the next poem and put a “vs” between them. None of
that is part of the poetry form for a Pleiades poem, except that I started
every line in both contrasting poems with the letter C, but actually, I think it
was kind of brilliant and if any of you want to put together a "something vs.
something" poem in the same manner, that might be fun to read. Either way, here
ya’ go . . .
Oh, the
examples I saw online have the first line start with a capital letter and the
rest start with a lowercase letter, and the final line ends with a period. (You
can insert commas where needed). Okay, so here are my examples:
Cucumbers
Crinkly edges,
crunchy, crisp, and
creeping vine bearing
cucumiform fruits,
cultivated plant,
comes from the gourd family,
cucurbitaceae.
© 2018 Stephanie Abney
COVID19
Cunning coronavirus has
closed businesses, cancelled school, trips, graduation,
choir concerts, prom, and more, as
captive, crying, frightened citizens, stay
completely away from others, covering their faces with masks, causing
concern, sadness, fear, and discouragement as our
constitutional rights, health, loved ones, and careers are in jeopardy.
©
2020 Stephanie Abney
VS
COVID19
Challenging the creativity and endurance of officials, healthcare
workers,
caregivers, first responders, families, and teachers, who are
creating online curriculum and classrooms, activities, and connections,
capable of bringing students and loved ones together,
cherishing time to think, reflect, and draw families close
completing long overdue projects, while finding time to read, draw, and
make beautiful art
completely content to be at home, hoping and praying together for the
best and quickest outcome, while consuming chocolate and unusual culinary
creations made from whatever is on their shelves.
©
2020 Stephanie Abney
PLEASE REMEMBER ~
any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may
not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a
lesson or to read it to someone. The same goes for any poems that are shared in
the comments of this blog or elsewhere online as a result of this challenge.
They are the creative property of the person who writes them. These poems are
their original work and no one may use them without their permission. It is
understood that they own the copyright for to them as soon as they post them.
Thanks so much!
Also, if you choose to post
your poems on your own blog ~ that’s awesome. But PLEASE don’t just copy and
paste my daily instructions, but rather post your poem on your blog or your FB
wall or wherever AND LINK BACK TO THIS BLOG POST for others to come here to
read the instructions. I’ve spent considerable time researching the poetry
forms and writing them up to share with you. Thanks for respecting my work.
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