Welcome to Poetry Friday! This week we are hosted by Irene Latham Here. Thank you, Irene, for hosting. Be sure to stop by and see what’s cooking.
Cooking?
It’s on my mind. I visited a good friend today who loves to cook. I was also thinking about cinquain poems and let food inspire me to write one.
What is a Cinquain? Five lines. Syllable count 2,4,6,8,2. Check out Kenn Nesbitt’s wonderful video Here. He recommends starting with something you like in the first line.
MY FAVORITE FOOD
Red sauce,
tomatoey,
concoction in a pot
ladled on a bowl of steaming
noodles.
© Janice Scully 2021
Considering it’s Birdtopia month, here’s a cinquain about the Great Blue Heron I wrote after reading they eat fish, frogs, turtles, snakes, insects, birds and rodents. What a menu!
THE GREAT BLUE HERON
Stately,
but not fussy–
eats most creatures that move,
from Florida to Alaska.
Adapts.
© Janice Scully 2021
Stay well, everyone. Be sure to stop by and see what Irene is up to this week on Poetry Friday.
These are wonderful cinquains Janice! Your ode to spaghetti made me hungry, and reading about the Heron’s diet took my appetite right away again 😉 – but I learned something too. Thanks for sharing these today.
How fun! Eats mostly things that move. Ha! This post is a perfect example of why I love Poetry Friday. Cinquains were on your mind…now they are on my mind too.
Janice, you’re making me hungry! I was just feeding the sourdough starter, and now I think I may need to write a sourdough cinquain. 🙂 Thank you!! First, though I’m going to add your blue heron one to my “lake” notebook. xo
I’ve accumulated a lot of starter, it tends to multiply and I need to keep baking. Made pizza and bread last week and what’s left is hungry again!
Thanks for the tasty cinquains, Janice! So fun.
I grew up being told that whenever a great blue heron was sighted, it would mean good luck, so I’ve loved them for a long time. They eat well, don’t they? I love both cinquains, but this line, perfect: “concoction in a pot”. It sounds so good, for ears and mouth!
Adapts. Perfect last line, Janice. I love cinquains and Adele Crapsey’s moody ones, especially. Such a fun form to play with!
What a yummy post! Cinquains are fun to write. Your introduction of the Nesbitt video was so well-delivered, Janice.
Now you’ve got me imagining a heron who eats spaghetti!
Janice,
When I first started teaching cinquain (late in my career and my poetry work with kids), I researched. Have you seen Adelaide Crapsey’s poem about autumn November Night? You can find it here. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46253/november-night
I love it and have memorized it, but these are sometimes hard to keep in your mind, so they require repetition….Your sauce and food poem makes me yearn for some pasta right now and then the heron poem, “stately but not fussy”… terrific. It could also be a good exercise for working on a poem you want to tighten, maybe try it as a cinquain and see where it takes you….thanks, Janice.
Hi Janet. That’s a very good idea! Good to hear from you.
Lovely cinquains, and especially the GBH!
Those are great! I’ll have to give that form a try. A few of the blue herons here in CT stay around for the winter. I always like seeing them.
I was drawn by the aromas Janice. The deeper we delve the more we realize the breadth of these syllabic poetry forms. Cinquain, whilst well known has slipped away a little in more recent times. Thank you for the timely reminder. I shall reacquaint myself with them this week. You have performed a timely service with these ‘favourites.’
Thanks for sharing the link to Kenn Nesbitt’s cinquain video. I am fascinated by your take on the heron’s eating habits.