Poetry: September 13, 2006 Issue [#1256]
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Poetry


 This week:
  Edited by: terryjroo
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

“Prose--words in their best order;--poetry--the best words in their best order.”
~Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Table Talk

” The true poem is the poet's mind.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays--Of History


Word from our sponsor



Letter from the editor

Writer’s Block or the Quinzaine



As poets, we can become stuck in a rut with our poetry which can often lead to writer’s block. It plagues most of us at one time or another; for many of us it is a repeated offense throughout our writing lifetime. We develop a pattern of writing the same type of poetry, in the same style, about the same topics and it is hard to break free of our habit.

So, what do you do? One of the best ways I have found to break writer’s block is to pick out a form you are unfamiliar with and write a new poem with it. It helps broaden your horizons as a poet and makes you stretch your poetry muscles. At first you can stick with a topic your familiar with, but after you have mastered the form, it is fun to try new topics as well.

One interesting form I found is called the Quinzaine. I couldn’t find any history on the poem itself, but it comes from the French word quinze which translates to fifteen. The poem consists of three lines of unrhymed verse totaling fifteen syllables. The distribution of the lines is as follows:

Line 1 = 7 syllables
Line 2 = 5 syllables
Line 3 = 3 syllables

The first line of the poem makes a statement. The second two lines ask a question regarding the statement in the first line.

Here’s an example I wrote:

September is time for school.
Will it be more fun,
Or more work?

See, it’s a very simple form, yet like anything new, can draw you out of a writing slump. Try it or one of the other 360+ forms of poetry and get out of that rut!

Let your love of poetry shine through!
terryjroo


Editor's Picks

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For help with poetry forms:

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BOOK
Poetry Forms Open in new Window. (13+)
Poetry Forms Easily Explained - a work of Bianca with additions by kansaspoet
#945530 by Bianca Author IconMail Icon

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#1047180 by Not Available.


Try your hand at writing a Quinzaine in this contest:

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#1047326 by Not Available.


Some terrific Quinzaines to peruse:

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#554679 by Not Available.

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#890868 by Not Available.

 Swimming Open in new Window. (E)
A Quinzaine for Writer's Cramp
#541486 by Sophurky Author IconMail Icon

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#785613 by Not Available.

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#1043863 by Not Available.


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Ask & Answer

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Submitted by: Black Willow Author IconMail Icon

Hello, Terryjroo

I liked this Newsletter very much; its always nice to see other kinds of poems that you don't see everyday, plus I think I've just had the most interesting History lesson ever in front of the computer! LOL

Thank you for this,
Dana.

Dana, I’m glad you liked the newsletter and the history lesson! *Bigsmile*

Submitted by: Angelica Weatherby- Grateful28 Author IconMail Icon

Cool newsletter! I didn't know ancient Greece had poems for entertainment.

Yes they did, as did most ancient civilizations. *Smile*

Submitted by: Cookie ~ contemplatingareturn Author IconMail Icon

Excellent issue, it's not often that such a poem is explained and with attention to the sentence structure and the white spaces. Many don’t understand what the white space in a poem does; you've helped with that understanding. Thanks for sharing this. *Smile*

I’m glad you liked the issue Cookie! Thanks for the comment. *Smile*

Submitted by: billwilcox

Good one, Ter. I love e.e.cummings and I love your newsletter *Cool*

Awww, thanks Bill! *Heart* Your support means a lot to me!

Submitted by: Turkey DrumStik Author IconMail Icon


I'm glad to see a solid argument for punctuation in poems. Now everyone can see that commas, dashes and other punctuation marks indeed serve an importance purpose.

Elisa, punctuation can be very important in poetry, though I don’t feel it is a necessary element to all poetry. If it is used though, the reader needs to know what to do with it when they read the poem. *Wink*

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