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Sam Kilkenny and Corey Bryan started Poetry Is Pretentious to help others get into poetry by providing daily prompts that are interesting and easy to complete.

This Week’s Form:
The Cinquain

As the name suggests, the cinquain is a poem of five lines. The most common variation of this form is the American Cinquain. It is heavily inspired by haiku and tanka in Japanese poetry. The Cinquain is a poem of five lines that have specific syllable counts. (2,4,6,8,2)

Rules of the Cinquain

  1. It is a poem of five lines
  2. It is a poem of twenty-two syllables
  3. The syllable count of each line is (2,4,6,8,2)
  4. It is typically unrhymed
  5. As always, bend the rules if you want to
  • Prompt 76 – Changing of the Seasons

    Prompt 76 – Changing of the Seasons

    It’s finally spring. Are you sad to see winter go? Sad that fall is still so far? Excited for the next few months?

    Example Cinquain:

    Flowers
    bloom in the back
    Green canopies above
    No snow so I am no longer
    depressed

    Form of the week: Cinquain

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  • Prompt 75 – Food Truck

    Prompt 75 – Food Truck

    New food truck just rolled into town–what’re they making?

    Example Cinquain:

    French fries
    I hope they serve
    Some french fries with french toast
    This town needs some rebels in it–
    French ones

    Form of the week: Cinquain

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  • Prompt 74 – Objects

    Prompt 74 – Objects

    If you could bring one object to life, what would you pick? I wonder what a chainsaw has to say…

    Example Cinquain:

    This clock
    was here before
    I moved in. I bet he
    has a bunch of stories to tell–
    ding-dong

    Form of the week: Cinquain

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  • Prompt 73 – Google Earth

    Prompt 73 – Google Earth

    Use Google Earth to go somewhere you’ve never been before. Use your 22 syllables to describe this brand-new experience.

    Example Cinquain:

    Oh, whoops!
    Sorry! Didn’t
    mean to just drop in here
    Google Earth has set me in your
    Garden

    Form of the week: Cinquain

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  • Prompt 72 – Decorating on a Syllable Budget

    Prompt 72 – Decorating on a Syllable Budget

    You can decorate your room with only the items that you can fit in this poem. It’s just like decorating your house on a budget. What makes the cut? And what could you live without?

    Example Cinquain:

    A bed
    Wait no, a door
    Oh, I guess I get both
    So a bed a door and I’m out
    of words

    Form of the week: Cinquain

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  • Prompt 71 – If You Could Be Any Animal

    Prompt 71 – If You Could Be Any Animal

    You can be any animal you want. You can be the birds that fly or the house cat that lounges all day. You can even be a worm if you want. What does your new life look like?

    Example Cinquain:

    A bear
    A polar bear
    So I could enjoy cold
    weather, and swim with the icebergs
    Up north

    Form of the week: Cinquain

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  • Prompt 70 – Your Ideal Commute

    Prompt 70 – Your Ideal Commute

    Work is an inevitable part of life, but what if the commute could be fun? Instead of sitting in traffic, what if you could ski to work? Fly on your broomstick? Take a helicopter? Or maybe it’s as simple as just being able to walk there. 

    Example Tanaga:

    Skiing down the mountain snow
    With laptop in my backpack
    Goldfish bag for mid-day snack
    And it’s off to work I go

    Form of the week: Tanaga

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  • Prompt 69 – Channel your Inner Rugrat

    Prompt 69 – Channel your Inner Rugrat

    Remember when you were a kid even the little things seemed like big adventures? The slide could be Mt. Everest, the floor was always lava. Channel that train of thought and write about the little things.

    Example Tanaga:

    Longest couch you’ve ever seen
    Made for the perfect island
    I with for a submarine
    The lava makes me frightened

    Form of the week: Tanaga

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  • Prompt 68 – Changing the Scene

    Prompt 68 – Changing the Scene

    Most writing takes place in your office, at your desk, at a coffee shop. Try and imagine (or do it, if you’re crazy enough) what it would be like to write from your laundry room or closet or bathroom. If you don’t have any spare rooms, imagine writing underneath your desk.

    Example Tanaga:

    It’s all legs and feet down here
    I really need to vacuum
    Lying on the floor is weird
    But it sure beats the bathroom

    Form of the week: Tanaga

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  • Prompt 67 – Poem for a Song

    Prompt 67 – Poem for a Song

    Take some inspiration from a song and write a tanaga about it. Impromptu ekphrasis

    Example Tanaga:

    Dad always played Turn the Page
    When Mom wasn’t in the car
    It wasn’t right for my age
    But oh, man that song went hard

    Form of the week: Tanaga

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