Monday, December 19, 2011

A gift that keeps giving



A friend of mine recently lost her brother to cancer. And when she came over to visit a few days ago she brought with her an envelope of his writings. She pulled it out, and with eyes full of tears she told me that he wrote these during his treatments. She said the most special to her was a poem he wrote for her birthday. “He wasn't a writer by any means but this is the most precious gift I have ever received,” she stated.

This got me thinking about Christmas and how something simple but meaningful can stay with someone for a lifetime. I keep a stack of letters my grandmother wrote to me and inside she always had a little poem.

It made such an impression on me as a kid that poetry became and continues to be a big part of my life.

So this Christmas give someone who has everything a Cinquain poem.

Cinquain is a short, usually non-rhyming poem consisting of twenty-two syllables distributed as 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, in five lines. It was developed by the Imagist poet, Adelaide Crapsey. Another form, sometimes used by school teachers to teach grammar, is as follows:
Line 1: Noun
Line 2: Description of Noun (2 adjectives)
Line 3: Action (3 words that end in -ing)
Line 4: Feeling or Effect (4-word phrase)
Line 5: Synonym of the initial noun.

Here is one I wrote for my husband:                        
Tim
Husband Father
Nurturing Loving Listening
Keeper of my heart
Partner

-Regina Gort

5 comments:

  1. Wonderful post, Gina. As always, you write truth and beauty.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Soldier
    Proud Enchanted
    Growing Fighting Transforming
    Clara swoons for you
    Nutcracker

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your post.
    Wonderful! Creative!
    Inspiring, trending, addictive.
    I find myself thinking in cinquains.
    Thanks, Gina.

    ReplyDelete