Poetry 2

In class assignment

This exercise is designed to help you think about condensing meaning. Poems mean more than they say. Ambiguity and paradox are engines of meaning. Compression allows a poem to speak far more than spelling everything out. Remember, there's an infinite number of points, even between 1 and 2.

Start with a common story, one that you’ve seen, the plot of a movie, a Harry Potter book, any comic book or cartoon.

Write a short paragraph.

Now condense that short paragraph into a haiku, a short poem of three lines—5 syllables, 7 syllables, and then 5 syllables.

Next, re-write that as a cinquain: a five line poem with lines of 2 syllables, 4 syllables, 6 syllables, 8 syllables and then a last line of 2 syllables.

Haiku 5,7, 5
Cinquains 2,4,6,8,2