Poetry Forms

Cinquain, Butterfly

Variations on the Cinquain 1: The Butterfly Cinquain.

I think most poets know the Cinquain form already. Adelaide Crapsey invented this form as an answer on the Japanese haiku and tanka.

The Cinquain has five lines and does not rhyme.
Its syllable scheme is as following:
line 1: 2
line 2: 4
line 3: 6
line 4: 8
line 5: 2

An example:

Roses.


Roses
Colored deep red
Leaves feeling like satin
A gentle perfume surrounds me...
All day
© Bianca 2002







The butterfly-cinquain has 9 lines. I found a short description of this form after joining a Yahoo group for writing cinquains. It thanks its name on the shape that it forms... like a butterfly.

Its syllable scheme is as following:
line 1: 2
line 2: 4
line 3: 6
line 4: 8
line 5: 2
line 6: 8
line 7: 6
line 8: 4
line 9: 2

An example:

silence
no spoken words
I hear just the rhythm
of the letters that I push in
to write
a story, that sticks in my mind
it flows with every word
on my sheet, all
words speak.

© Bianca 2005