How to write a Cinquain poem – Part 1.

Ronovan Writing , , , ,

With the new poetry prompt having started this past Monday, (Prompt #1), I thought I could share more about the Cinquain style, and more specifically the American Cinquain.

If you know a little about languages you’ll probably realize that ‘Cinqua’ means five.

Cinquains are, in their simplest form, poems of five lines or stanza. Yes, that’s a Quintet for you know-it-alls. We like to put formulas and rules to what we do, but the truth is that it’s as simple as that… Five Lines. But we like a challenge so we put constraints on what we do to get those creative synapses going. If that’s the right way of thinking about it. I’m not looking it up.

There are various types of cinquain, one of which is the didactic cinquain taught to school aged children.

If we were writing a cinquain instead of the American Cinquain, we would be using a rhyming scheme. You could do that with the American Cinquain, but it’s not how Adelaide Crapsey developed it. In some ways, the American Cinquain gives us more freedom to be creative.

If you’ve been visiting this site for a while, you might know that Haiku has been a big part of its history. Guess what Adelaide Crapsey liked? The five line haiku poetry form called Tanka. Like a Tanka, the only true requirement of a Crapseian cinquain, yes that is another title for an American Cinquain, are the syllables.

2/4/6/8/2

 

Or is that the requirement?

 

You see, Adelaide Crapsey never wrote down what her style required. We only have a structure based on what others have come up with from studying her work. Not that they’re wrong. Some have stated the line lengths should be based on counting iambs or stressed syllables. How does that change the length from being syllables? It would instead be 1/2/3/4/1.

There is some evidence for the iambs idea, such as the following poem.

NOVEMBER NIGHT

Listen . . .

With faint dry sound,

Like steps of passing ghosts,

The leaves, frost-crisp’d, break from the trees

And fall.

 

Basically, use what you like. That’s what Adelaide did.

Read How to write a Cinquain poem – Part 2.

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© 2025- Ronovan Hester Copyright reserved. The author asserts his moral and legal rights over this work.

 

 

Cinquain Poetry Prompt 1: NEW is your inspiration.

Ronovan American Cinquain Prompt , , , ,

If this is your first using the prompt, please read the whole post to get an idea of what’s going on. You don’t have to or even need to, but it can help.

HOW TO USE THE PROMPT (It’s different this time.)

In the past my prompt inspiration words, or a synonym, have generally been ones to use within the poem. With the Cinquain Prompt, the inspiration is just that, an inspiration. The words do NOT need to be used. What does the word or words make you think of? That’s what you write. It doesn’t matter if we get it. If we make the link, although it would be excellent writing if we can figure it out. As long as we enjoy the poem, that’s all that matters. Well actually all that really matters is that you wrote the poem. The prompt is for you write a poem, not for us to necessairly read one.

As an example, I wanted to write about memories for my example American Cinquain when I first created the post about this new idea for a prompt challenge. As some of you may know, about 12 years or so ago I had a concussion and lost my memories. It’s still a large part of my identity today. So, memories are a big part of my life. Old Days, the poem below, is my response to my inspiration of MEMORIES.

The Cinquain or more specifically the American Cinquain.

My Example:

Old Days

See how
The sun rises,
Breaking over beauty,
Filling the senses with heaven
Then fades.

You can see the pattern above is as follows…

THE STRUCTURE

5 Lines with each a given number of syllables as

2
4
6
8
2

An iambic foot with the stresses by line being

1
2
3
4
1

For the first line of the poem there will be two syllables with one stressed syllable and that one being the second one, which establishes the pattern.

The Cinquain most commonly used is the American Cinquain created by Adelaide Crapsey. Although she did not write down specific rules for composing one of her Cinquains, we have a form from people who have studied her poetry and have found commonalities in her works, those being the syllable and iambic foot, stresses pattern, although the iambic foot is not a requirement. Think of iambic foot and meter as the beat of music and the poem. Every other syllable is the beat.

THE CONTENT

As much as structure dictates an American Cinquain, the content and descriptive nature of the poem is just as important. Emotion. Nature. Event. Idea. All of those can be what brings words to the poem. If you’re not accustomed to cinquain yet, or your idea of a poem is big, write your poem as long as it needs to be to get your story down. Then you start zeroing in on structure. Then you turn that original idea and those original words into such concise and descriptive wording that in just 22 syllables you tell your story.

As you tell the story, remember that often, and usually, the last line flips the story you’ve told. A negative poem ends with a positive, a positive with a negative. A story of anger ends in peace. Oppressed ends in freedom.

Using my example, I tell a story of could be an actual sunrise, emotions, or an event. It’s a pleasant and serene, inspiring tale, then with the ending it all disappears. Yes, a sunrise disappears, an event ends, the joyful emotions of love may end in total darkness and depression.

Two Adelaide Crapsey Cinquain poems:

November Night

Listen . . .
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp’d, break from the trees
And fall.

 

Trapped

Well and
If day on day
Follows and weary year
On year . . . and ever days and years . . .
Well?

LINKING BACK TO THE PROMPT:

One way to increase interest in prompt challenges is to link back or pingback to the prompt when you write your response on your blog. This can also have a couple or more extra visits to your post.

Click HERE to find out how to do a Pingback. It’s a post I created a long time ago. It includes an image showing you how to do it.

 

American Cinquain Poetry Prompt

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© 2025- Ronovan Hester Copyright reserved. The author asserts his moral and legal rights over this work.

Ovi Poetry 100: ENDING is your inspiration.

Ronovan Ovi Challenge , , , , ,

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.

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The Cinquain Prompt Is Coming.

Ronovan Poetry , , , ,

It’s time for a new poetry style and prompt that begins next week.

The Cinquain or more precisely the American Cinquain.

My Example:

Old Days

See how
The sun rises,
Breaking over beauty,
Filling the senses with heaven
Then fades.

You can see the pattern above is as follows…

5 Lines with each a given number of syllables as

2
4
6
8
2

An iambic foot with the stresses by line being

1
2
3
4
1

For the first line of the poem there will be two syllables with one stressed syllable and that one being the second one, which establishes the pattern.

The Cinquain most commonly used is the American Cinquain created by Adelaide Crapsey. Although she did not write down specific rules for composing one of her Cinquains, we have a form from people who have studied her poetry and have found commonalities in her works, those being the syllable and iambic foot, stresses pattern, although the iambic foot is not a requirement. The other characteristic is storytelling, compacting a feeling or scene into a few short lines and syllables.

Two Adelaide Crapsey Cinquain poems:

November Night

Listen . . .
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp’d, break from the trees
And fall.

 

Trapped

Well and
If day on day
Follows and weary year
On year . . . and ever days and years . . .
Well?

 

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© 2025-  Ronovan Hester Copyright reserved. The author asserts his moral and legal rights over this work.

 

Ovi Poetry 99: FLIGHT is your inspiration.

Ronovan Ovi Challenge , , , , ,

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.

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Ovi Poetry 98: SURVIVE is your inspiration.

Ronovan Ovi Challenge , , , , ,

How is the word SURVIVE a positive word of inspiration? It means you were not defeated… for one. We all go through a lot of challenges, some of us a whole lot each day, but we keep going and survive. We can do it with a smile on our faces and in our hearts, or just get through. The goal is to survive to enjoy parts of another day. These days some people allow certain things to color their entire day in darkness. That’s a choice. We can all find something to enjoy, even for a few moments. I have days, weeks, months where I feel like there is nothing good going on in my life, and if I really wanted to, I could almost… almost, justify that, but then I realize there are times I smile, live, and do enjoy. I unfortunately allow certain things to interfere with my goals and that can hurt my health. I keep trying to work through it, but it’s difficult. But I’ll keep trying, because giving in is not an option I’ll allow myself.

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.

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Ovi Poetry 97: RELEASE is your inspiration.

Ronovan Ovi Challenge , , , , ,

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.

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Ovi Poetry 96: STRENGTH is your inspiration.

Ronovan Ovi Challenge , , , , ,

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.

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Ovi Poetry 95: UNDERSTAND is your inspiration.

Ronovan Ovi Challenge , , , , ,

Last week the word was LEARN. You can learn a lot, but UNDERSTAND little. I know people I grew up with who took the same classes as I did who seemingly don’t understand what they learned was telling them. I guess you can tell the History guy in me. That’s been my passion for… well I won’t say how long, but I sure did love the ’80s. You may not like what history tells us ibut it happened and similar things can happen again, as they have throughout history.

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.

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History

Ronovan Poetry Thoughts , , , ,

When you took your history, you thought it a boring lot.

You didn’t know; it was telling us our plot.

 

If you don’t know what happened you won’t know what’s to come.

I don’t regret saying this, the country’s made a lot so dumb.

 

Maybe that was the plan, to not let them know.

While they’re consumed by the screen, we’re controlling the show.

 

And when things are quiet, best be on your guard.

Because in the silence, they’re breaking in your yard.

 

© 2025- Ronovan Hester Copyright reserved. The author asserts his moral and legal rights over this work.

Ovi Poetry 94: LEARN is your inspiration.

Ronovan Ovi Challenge , , , , ,

As y’all might know, I was a history teacher. I’m big into education and continued learning throughout life. It may sound odd, but I think learning is like any skill, if you don’t use that ability, you lose it. So if you don’t continue the process of learning, you lose it and basically take what you’re given… or you just ignore everything with the idea of ‘what does it matter anyway, I know what I need to know’.

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Ovi Poetry 93: RISE is your inspiration.

Ronovan Ovi Challenge , , , , ,

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.

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Ovi Poetry 92: BRIDGE is your inspiration.

Ronovan Ovi Challenge , , , , ,

It’s always good to find things that we all have in common. We know, and believe me the world tells us enough, that we have our differences, but we have more in common, we think more in common, than we don’t. There are a handful of things… maybe two handfuls of important things we all may differ on, but it’s those common things that keep us going and let’s be honest, those things are what push society forward. If we all ever get to the point where we agree on everything, I’ll know AI has taken over and we’re in the Matrix.

So we BRIDGE our differences with our commonalities.

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Ovi Poetry 91: WISDOM is your inspiration.

Ronovan Ovi Challenge , , , , ,

Knowledge was my first thought for a word but that doesn’t sound very poetry inspiring. I am big on knowledge, education, and wisdom. They are all somewhat intertwined. But you can be wise without having a college degree. When I began the year with the thought of being positive with my challenges, who knew how challenging a year it would be? But in a way, it does bring about inspirational thoughts out of some… well I can’t even come up with a word that really captures the way things are these  days. As a former history teacher, someone that studied a lot of European history and being a US citizen, of course, I can see the similarities but also the differences of the events that are going on. I am a big believer in the old adage of “Those who do not learn from the experience of the past are doomed to repeat it.”. But I suppose I’m not really surprised at how today is. History has been swept well away to the side in the US education system in favor of STEM or STEAM now. History and the social sciences teach you about people, how they have acted and how they might act.

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.

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Ovi Poetry 90: OPPORTUNITY is your inspiration.

Ronovan Ovi Challenge , , , , ,

It’s been an… interesting… week. Interesting can give one a chance to think about choices made, and what can be made out of what has happened. What positives can come out of a disaster. Maybe a learning moment that opens eyes that were once blind.

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Ovi Poetry 89: FLEETING is your inspiration.

Ronovan Ovi Challenge , , , , ,

It’s nice to remember that things aren’t permanent. They always change. Just keep walking and you’ll get to the other side and you’ll likely learn a lot along the way.

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Ovi Poetry Challenge 88: WONDER is your inspiration.

Ronovan Ovi Challenge , , , , ,

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Ovi Poetry Challenge 87: FOCUS is your inspiration.

Ronovan Ovi Challenge , , , , ,

Through everything, if you stay focused, you can find something good to hold on to.

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.

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Ovi Poetry Challenge 86: ENERGY is your inspiration.

Ronovan Ovi Challenge , , , , ,

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.

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Ovi Poetry Challenge 85: FRIEND is your inspiration.

Ronovan Ovi Challenge , , , , ,

Does the definition of what a FRIEND is change through the years? Maybe what’s important about a friend when your 8 is different than when your 38 or 48 or… I’ll just stop there. Moving around a lot as a kid, then ending up as a senior in high school in a new state then moving after that, friends aren’t something that has come easy to me.

OVI POETRY

Ovi is a syllabic/metre poetry form. In this case, Ovi is from India, originating in the Marathi language. The Ovi  has been in use in written form since the 13th Century, but the women’s ovee/ovi predates the literary form by at least the 12th Century.

The Ovi are in general, lyrical folk songs expressing love, social irony, and heroic events. They are written in the following scheme.

4 line stanzas, as few as one stanza and up to as many as you like.

8 syllables or less per line

Rhyming is AAAb. The second stanza would be CCCd. The third, EEEf. And so on. Meaning nothing in one stanza must rhyme with anything in the previous stanza. The fourth line does not rhyme.

Example:

Roly Poly by Judi Van Gorder

The big toothed tot with golden hair
picked up a bug on Sister’s dare,
it rolled into a ball right there
and won her springtime heart.

Notice the rhyming pattern is AAAb or
A
A
A
b

My Attempt

Blue flowers continue to grow,
with the shadow’s making them glow,
giving life to darkness and woe,
dying each year to yet return.

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.