10 Short Poetic Forms
I’ve put together a couple poetic form lists by nationality (French poetic forms and Japanese poetic forms) recently, but I thought it’d be fun to assemble a list of short…
I've put together a couple poetic form lists by nationality (French poetic forms and Japanese poetic forms) recently, but I thought it'd be fun to assemble a list of short poetic forms. Like less than 10 lines short poems!
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Play with poetic forms!
Poetic forms are fun poetic games, and this digital guide collects more than 100 poetic forms, including more established poetic forms (like sestinas and sonnets) and newer invented forms (like golden shovels and fibs).
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Here are 10 Short Poetic Forms:
Click on the links to learn more about each form.
- Gogyohka. 5-liner developed by Enta Kusakabe.
- Hay(na)ku. 3-liner created by Eileen Tabios.
- Lune. Two 3-line versions created by Robert Kelly and Jack Collom.
- Magic 9. Abacadaba 9-liner that's poetic magic.
- Nonet. The disappearing 9-line poem.
- Rispetto. Italian 8-line poetic form.
- Shadorma. Spanish 6-line poem (that I find addictive).
- Sijo. Korean 3-line poem.
- Tricubes. Mathematical poem introduced by Phillip Larrea.
- Triolet. 8-line French form (that's one of my all-time faves).
Have fun trying each form! And let me know which short forms I left off (besides, you know, haiku and tanka).
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
