The Cinquain Challenge: Form 10—Cinq Cinquain

Just when I thought I’d discovered every variation of cinquain there was, I found another—the Cinq Cinquain. To the best of my knowledge, this form consists of five cinquain verses, making it similar to both the garland and crown forms.

For those of you who are new to this series, a cinquain is a five-line poem that has a set number of syllables (or word types) per line. Sometimes the title of a cinquain acts as a sixth line. Cinquains were invented by Adelaide Crapsey was an American poet who was inspired by the rules of Japanese poetry to create her own poetical form, the cinquain.

Here’s an example, originally written for a poetry collection to come out later this year:

The Hidden Face

Still caged

My nightmare half

Reigned in tight; no carnage today

Dark soul prowling dissatisfied

Restless

Psycho

Murderous rage

Held back, steadied, tight-leashed

Soothed and calmed to quietitude

Lonely

Baresark

Old genes passed down

A legend not needed

Our defences different now

Bloodlines

Facets

Socially good

Displayed on the outer

Our dark sides hidden well away

On hold

Limbo

Dark-heart drifting

Dozing, waits in silence

Redundant where there are no threats

Frozen

Why don’t you give it a try? Try writing at least one cinq-cinquain for each day of the week. They don’t take a lot of time, but they can be a bit tricky. Here’s one way you might want to approach them:

• Decide on a topic;
• Think of words, phrases, feelings and ideas that relate to your topic and work out the order you want to express those things in;
• Work out how to express each idea in the right number of syllables for the line it’s on;
• Write your cinquain;
• Check there are the right number of syllables on each line; and
• Centre the poem on your page.

Or you can just write them as you go, letting inspiration take you where it will, but remember to check your syllables and centre.