Diminishing Verse: Poetic Forms
Learn how to write diminishing verse, a poetic form that removes letters from end words. Get the guidelines and an example poem here.
Here's a fun form: Diminishing Verse!
Diminishing Verse Poems
Diminishing verse offers no origin and very few rules, but I enjoyed writing my example below. In fact, the main rule is this: Remove the first letter of end word in previous line.
For example:
- Line 1 ends with the word "grad"
- And line 2 ends "rad"
- Then, line 3 ends "ad"
Note: There are no rules for rhymes, syllables, poem length, stanza length, etc. Just a simple removal of a letter. That said, poets can also remove sounds if they wish like "braille" to "rail" to "ale."
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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’s my attempt at Diminishing Verse:
bullies, by Robert Lee Brewer
The many children in my neighborhood are glad
when all the adults chase around a certain lad
who acts the bad guy of an anti-bully ad,
but it's ironic that any child who might stray
be knocked around like a cafeteria tray
when children only want to shine like a sun's ray.
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.
