Monostich: Poetic Forms
Poetic Form Fridays are made to share various poetic forms. This week, we look at the monostich, a one-line poem.
We usually have so many rules when we look at these poetic forms. However, this week's form is about as simple as it can be. The monostich is a one-line stanza or poem.
So there are poems that include a monostich (or one-line stanza), but a monostich can also be an entire poem. Many successful monostich poems will use the juxtaposition of a title with the one-liner to create a poem in the space between.
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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 a Monostich poem:
"Regret," by Robert Lee Brewer
I hold a chip bag that only holds crumbs.
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.
