Five Cinquains

When I was first taught the cinquain, I was told it had a pattern of 1, 2, 3, 4, 1 syllables, not 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, so that’s why these poems follow the pattern they do—really a half-cinquain. Impressionable young mind. This problem was not quite as bad, however, as being told in high school that haiku was 5-7-5. But I digress.

Cinquain for Introductions

aitch

aitch-ee

aitch-ee-el

aitch-ee-el-el

Oh!

Furniture

Da!mn

—his voice

,drop-ping low,

Cursed the stub-bing

toe.

Vowel Movement

eh?

eh-yee!

eh-yeeee-I!

eh-yee-I-oh!

You!

Mule

If

You say

So then that

Is the way it

Is.

The Drowning

Slip

Stumble

Splashing deep

Sinking beneath

Weeds.

From Ninety-Seven Poems, but otherwise previously unpublished, except for the first piece, which appeared in The Stuttering Priest in 1984.