Shackled, or: Flowing

Shackles
Cold Restraining
Chilling Locking Binding
Inescapably bound in place
Cable
Round Connected
Coiling Twisting Looping
Securely wrapping all around
Bracelet
Pretty Shiny
Sparkling Glinting Twinkling
An attractive wrist ornament
Trinket
Tiny Worthless
Hanging Dangling Swinging
Only for sentimental folks
Trifle
Paltry Little
Piddling Trifling Niggling
Utterly worthless minor thing
Fragment
Shattered Pointed
Piercing Cutting Stinging
Greater picture remains hidden
Portion
Lot Separate
Parting Taking Giving
Different for every person
Fortune
Wealthy Elite
Boasting Owning Spending
Far beyond mere security
Plenty
Nice Comforting
Soothing Saving Freeing
Enough for all emergencies
Torrent
Wet Powerful
Gushing Bursting Flooding
Tremendous deluge overcomes all
Outflow
Swift Measured
Streaming Rolling Pounding
Water and language similar
Poem

I’ve been experimenting with various forms of poetry of late, and I came upon the ‘cinquain’. At its core, the ‘cinquain’ is a five line poem. There are, of course, variations; and I settled upon the following rules, as a challenge to myself:

  • Line 1: One word, two syllables (a noun, the subject of the poem)
  • Line 2: Two words, four syllables (adjectives that describe the subject in line 1)
  • Line 3: Three words, six syllables (-ing action verbs–participles–that relate to the subject in line 1)
  • Line 4: Four words, eight syllables (a phrase or sentence that relates feelings about the subject in line 1)
  • Line 5: One word, two syllables (a synonym for the subject in line 1 or a word that sums it up)

I was immediately struck by the fact that the 5th line of a cinquain (according to the above rules) takes the very same form as the 1st line (i.e. one word, two syllables), which led me to wonder… how many cinquains could I reasonably manage to string together?

My goal, I decided, would be to start with the word ‘shackles’ and somehow get myself to the word ‘poem’.

58 thoughts on “Shackled, or: Flowing”

  1. A nice play on the poetic form. You were very unshackled on this one!
    I love your opening lines…
    Shackles
    Cold Restraining
    Chilling Locking Binding
    Inescapably bound in place

    1. With all the online dictionaries and thesauruses available today, it’s much easier than it once was… can you imagine doing this without any reference books? 🤯


      David

  2. Wow that is a crazy idea and I love how it really worked for the poem so well. Never thought playing around with structures and forms of poetry could seem so much fun. This is fascinating! 🤩💕

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