Day 1 2024 ~ How to write a 5W’s Poem for #NationalPoetryMonth ~"30 poems in 30 days"

Yay!! April 1st is the beginning of National Poetry Month!

Welcome to YEAR 12 of my month-long poetry challenge in honor of “National Poetry Month.” When I re-read my intro last year, I thought, wow, I did a great job of explaining things so I’m just going to post that part again . . . and after that, I’ll explain our poetic form for Day 1. Cheers!!

There are many forms of poetry. Too many people claim they cannot write poetry but I beg to differ. That is why I started this challenge, to teach others how to write a variety of poems with easy-to-follow instructions. So far, I have found more than a hundred different poetry “forms” and have featured around 8o+ different ones over the years. This challenge is fun and easy – even kids can and do join in.

So, first, since new people seem to join each year, here are some basic things to know, and then the following posts SHOULD be shorter, but I like details so short and brief are relative words for me, but I’ll try!!

I also host a private FB Poetry Month group; if you are interested in that, you will need to contact me and request an “invite” to it.

Also – all poetry shared within our private FB group or in comments or on my blog or elsewhere on Social Media remains the property of those who wrote them. Please do not use them elsewhere without permission of the author.

Why write poems? Writing poetry causes us to think differently about words. Due to the condensed nature of most poetry, we think carefully about word choice, evaluate each word in order to tell a story, express our emotions, describe a moment, or a memory. It allows us to reveal ourselves in ways we may have never expected. I love this quote I found on Writers Write ~ “Poems act as a filter and help us get to the guts of the matter.”

Most of the poems we will do this month have rather specific rules. This is a good thing. They are a guide and can help you express yourself in the most unexpected ways, but then again, when you write poetry, you can also break the rules if it serves the poem. However, I recommend for the purpose of our time together that you avoid breaking the rules. Following them will teach you several different ways to write poetry. You can always break them later, on your own.

Okay, enough of my rambling – let’s get started!! Yay!!

This year we will start with a dandy little favorite of mine. It’s easy. It’s fun. It’s called a “5 W’s Poem” because it answers the 5 W’s:

Who, What, Where, When & Why?

These poems have no need to rhyme, nor are the lines any particular length or meter. So, it’s a pretty simple poetry form to follow:

Line 1: WHO (or what) is the poem about?

Line 2: WHAT action is happening?

Line 3: WHERE does the action take place?

Line 4: WHEN does the action take place?

Line 5: WHY does this action happen?

It’s fun and I have given you several examples. Enjoy!! Cheers!!

A group of teenagers

Making videos of being silly,

At the local park,

During spring break,

Hoping to be the next YouTube wonder.

                    © 2014 Stephanie Abney

My children

Laughing, wrestling, creating

Tumble through the living room

Every day after school

Because they feel safe and loved

                   © 2017 Kaci Carlson (used with permission)

 

 

A certain 17-year old I know

Questions everything.

At home, at school, at church,

when he doesn't understand.

Because that's what people do who want to change the world.                 

                   © 2016 Stacy Johnson (used with permission)

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 to them as soon as they create them and especially once they post them. Thanks so much!

*** Also, if you choose to post your poems on your own blog or elsewhere on social media ~ 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 EACH DAY’S SPECIFIC 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.

Day 29 ~ Bio Poem for #NationalPoetryMonth and "30 poems in 30 days"

There are all kinds of “Bio Poems” and “All About Me” poetic forms out there so today we are going to follow a simple little format that produces a surprisingly powerful poem – ABOUT YOU!!

It is basically a 9-line poem with no specific requirements as to rhyming or syllables. However, each line has a prompt to be followed:

Any words in BLUE should be PART of your poem – only the first two lines “ask a question” and the answer to it becomes part of the poem – for the rest – start out with the part in blue and fill in the blank with whatever suits you.

Line 1: Your first name _________________

Line 2: Three words that describe you ______________________________

Line 3: Who enjoys _____________________________________________

Line 4: Who is able to ___________________________________________

Line 5: Who feels _______________________________________________

Line 6: Who wonders ____________________________________________

Line 7: Who fears ______________________________________________

Line 8: Who cares about _________________________________________

Line 9: Who dreams of ___________________________________________

I haven’t written a bio poem for this particular format yet and I have some appointments this morning that will prevent me from taking time to create on to share so I’ll just let y’all come up with your own. Enjoy!!

In the interest of "full disclosure" and giving proper attribution (although I have seen so many variations of this type of poem), I did find this particular format in a free download from a teacher, Laura Candler, as found at "Teachers Pay Teachers" ~ here is the link: FREE Bio Poems Made Easy ~ TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers) was always one of my favorite places to get great material when I was teaching full-time. I still go there when working with my grandkids. So, it might be a useful resource for some of you out there. (I added my own "spin" to it by naming the lines and highlighting the beginning prompts in blue). 

Blessings!!

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 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.

Photo credit: Mihai Paraschiv at Pixabay

Day 28 ~ Cinquain Pattern 3 for #NationalPoetryMonth and "30 poems in 30 days"

OK, let’s revisit the Cinquain Poem – it always has FIVE LINES, but sometimes you count the syllables per line and sometimes you count the words per line, but this time, the version I call “Pattern 3,” you fill each line in ACCORDING TO THE DIRECTIONS BELOW!! J

This Cinquain Poem has a certain number of words for lines 1, 2, 3, and 5 but line 4 is any phrase (just a short sentence) you want to use so it sort of “pull it all together”

Here is the PATTERN:   

Line1: A noun

Line 2: Two adjectives

Line 3: Three -ing words

Line 4: A phrase

Line 5: Another word for the noun

Here are two examples of mine:

                                                                    

Dancer

Graceful, lyrical

Leaping, twirling, spinning

My beautiful granddaughter

Payton

                                                                                                                           © 2019 Stephanie Abney

Babies

Sweet, precious

Laughing, babbling, crying

If only they stayed little

Adorable

                                                                                                                                    © 2011 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 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.

Photo credit: sobima at Pixabay

Day 26 ~ “Synonym or Antonym Poem” for “30 Poems in 30 Days" #NationalPoetryMonth

Synonym and/or Antonym Poetry:

These are simple yet POWERFUL poems. They incorporate a couplet, are only three lines long (and the first line is ONLY a one-word title) and can really be quite profound.

Here are a few nifty, helpful online resources:  

"Synonyms" ~ resource for synonyms and/or antonyms (depending on which little dot you click up by the search button)

"Rhyme Zone" ~ plug in a word, hit search and it kicks out a list of rhyming words (this one is the easiest to use, I think, because the other one gives you thousands of choices and that’s too long to sort through and can be overwhelming. So, whichever you like…

"Rhymer" ~ pretty cool – even has six options on how to rhyme: end rhymes (rhyme ending words), last syllable rhymes, double rhymes (like walking/talking), triple rhymes (have the same vowel sounds in the third-to-last syllable and all following sounds (explanation, destination, imagination), beginning rhymes (scenery/cedar) and first syllable rhymes (carrot/caring).

INSTRUCTIONS:

Choose any word.  Write that word in capital letters on the first line.  

Choose around 3-5 synonyms OR antonyms and list them below your one-word line 1, and they become your second line. If none come to mind, just look them up in a thesaurus or at "SYNONYMS" ~ a resource for synonyms AND antonyms. 

THEN, on the third line, come up with a descriptive phrase about the word. 

And yep, the ending words of both lines 2 & 3 need to rhyme. J

Here are two examples I came up with a couple of years ago:

IMMIGRANT

Pioneer, settler, foreigner, outsider, newcomer.

Welcome. I, too, walk to the beat of a different drummer.

                                                          

                                                                  © 2017 Stephanie Abney

GROWTH

Emergence, evolving, increment, development.

Without life’s obstacles there is little improvement.

                                                                     © 2017 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 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.

Photo credit: image by Gerd Altmann at Pixabay

Day 25 ~ Credo Poem for #NationalPoetryMonth and "30 poems in 30 days"

The word “credo” is Latin, and literally means, “I believe.” So, today were are going to write a “Credo Poem." This is a pretty cool format and it was taken from a scene in the movie “Bull Durham” (which I’ve never seen so this is NOT a recommendation to see it – in fact, when I tried watched the clip of his “credo” I turned it off – not my style; too crass for me). However, it does make for a good poetry form, so here it is ~ basically, just fill in the blanks:

CREDO POEM ~ in each of the first 4 blanks, tell something you believe in and on the last line of the 1^st stanza list 3 things (separated by each of the commas provided)

Then for the “BUT” line – tell something you don’t believe in, such as “But I don’t believe” … or “But I think … telling something that you don’t support, believe, etc. “But I think ‘whatever’ is overrated” or any way you want to add a line about what you DON’T believe in that starts with the word “But.”

Finally, the last stanza is MORE of what you believe in (3 lines and then a line of 3 things, separated by a comma, like you did in the 1^st stanza and then – end with one long statement that kind of summaries what you believe or what you have hope for in the future type of thing.

OK, here is the basic format – whatcha’ got?

I believe in the _________________________,

the___________________________________,
the___________________________________,
the___________________________________,
the___________________________________,
_______________,_______________,_________________.

But _______________________________________ . (something you don't believe in)

I believe in____________________________,
I believe in____________________________,
I believe in____________________________,
______________,________________,_________________.

And I believe in ___________________________________  _________________________________________________ . (longest line of poem)

Here is a link to an example poem written by a teenager found on “Teen Ink” (her format is a bit different - she doesn't seem to have the 3 items listed at the end of each stanza). . . which looks pretty good, so use either format. 

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 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 and the creative work of others.

Photo credit: Pixabay image by Deb W

Day 24 ~ “Diatelle Poem” for 30 Poems in 30 Days" #NationalPoetryMonth

Okay – this poetry challenge is almost over. It’s been lots of fun. I hope you have been enjoying yourself. I think you’ve proven you are all up for a new challenge – I have only shared this poetic form once in the seven years I’ve been doing poetry month. So, I figure maybe it’s time to introduce it again. 

Writing a DIATELLE POEM can be a bit tricky – it’s still all about counting syllables (remember, there IS a syllable counter online if you need it) and about rhyming CERTAIN lines SPECIFICALLY with other lines. If you DON’T follow it precisely, you won’t get the desired result – you’ll get a poem, no doubt, just not a “Diatelle Poem” which is today’s poetry form. 

It’s a fairly new form created by Bradley Vrooman. So since I STILL haven’t even attempted this form yet (that’s kind of embarrassing), I’m using Bradley Vrooman’s poem as an example, with the syllable count per line in blue and the rhyming pattern in red to make it easy to see the format. I hope to get back to add in one or two of my own. In the meantime, let’s see what you come up with ~ I’ve included a pretty nifty chart to help with the details:

It looks best if you can center it – kind of has a diamond shape because of the order of the syllable count, which is: 1-2-3-4-6-8-10-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1,

And it has a VERY SPECIFIC RHYMING PATTERN – every line that ends with the "A pattern" – needs to rhyme with each other. The same for letters B and C ~ here is the pattern to follow:

A-B-B-C-B-C-C-A-C-C-B-C-B-B- A

So, you can see it will be a bit trickier than those we have done in the past – but I bet it’s one you probably haven’t heard of before – that’s what I was going for – something new.

I created a little pattern box to help you sort it all out – see below –

Bradley Vrooman’s Example: Smooth Sailing                                Walk (Syllable count 1 - rhyme: a) With me (2 - b) And simply (3 - b) With arms around (4 - c) Each other's waist, happy (6 - b) Moving about the day, as bound (8 - c) As ever can be, with true love abound (10 - c) lay with me all day and all night, my world you rock (12 - a) Passion’s fire, a desire induced by sound (10 - c) Pure as light, each spectrum surround (8 - c) Hypnotized as can be (6 - b) Love that’s profound (4 - c) Spoken free (3 - b) With me (2 - b) Talk(1 - a)  - © Bradley Vrooman

Diatelle Poetry Chart ~ match the ending rhyming words with the same color (grey columns are because NONE of the lines end in that number of syllables).

		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1	A
2	B
3	B
4	C
6	B
8	C
10	C
12	A
10	C
8	C
6	B
4	C
3	B
2	B
1	A

GOOD LUCK!! Whatcha’ got?

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 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.