Since the dawn of our English educations, we’ve encountered the staying power of certain forms of poetry: The limerick, Shakespeare’s sonnets, the 5-7-5 of the english version of the Haiku. Maybe some of us even encountered the Villainelle the Sestina, or the Tanka. Point is, once you start writing poetry yourself, these are some of the first things you run into, and your own poems tend to look quite miserly in a forced form that is only trying to mimick the grandeur of the masters who died long, long ago. I believe that that these forms do have their place in modern poetry, but only with a twist from our own century. Here’s some cool mutations of those forms:

The Limerick Deluxe

Most of us have heard a limerick somewhere in our childhoods.  Yes, they are joyful in their simplicity. They are also the perfect size for a stanza. Instead of writing just one limerick, write one limerick after the other to make one silly amazing super-poem!

The Never-Ending Tanka

This one is more like a game. You’ll need a friend (or any even number of people). Haikus came from the Tanka, a form where the “haiku” came first (The 5-7-5), then three 7 syllable lines followed. Sometimes, people would get together and play poetry games in which one player would compose a Haiku, then the other would finish the poem with the last three lines.

You know where this is going. Have an all-out poetry battle, taking turns being the one who write the haiku of the poem. These can go on for pretty long.

Shapeshifting Sonnet

For all intensive purposes, I will restrict my definition of a sonnet to a 14 Line poem in iambic pentameter, since so many varieties exist. Here’s the way I like to outline a sonnet.

Title

1 word

2 words

3 words

4 words

…etc., until you reach 14 words on the 14th line.

Acrostic Poems for the Daring

These start young. Basically, you think of a word, usually the title, and write it vertically. In elementary school, they have you write your name.

J

O

E

Y

Then you write a poem with those first letters in mind.

Joey

Jolly boy

Overachiever

Energetic

Yodels a lot.

 (you get the idea)

If you’re up for something slightly harder, try writing an acrostic poem of the alphabet.

A

B

C

D

E

… etc.

Or, if you really want to test yourself, you can try the Double Acrostic Alphabet Poem

(I did not invent this, however, I envy anyone who can complete this.)

The letters of the alphabet go down the left side of the poem.

A

B

C…etc.

But, this time, the alphabet also goes down the right side of the poem, IN REVERSE. So, your lines look like this.

TITLE

A………Z

B……….Y

C……….X

D……….W

etc .

So yes, the first word of your line must START with A, but the last word of that line must END in the letter Z. Repeat through line 26.

Have fun