Write a Poem - Kristin Martin

Would you like to write a poem? Here are a few poems you can try.

Write a Clerihew.

A clerihew is a funny poem about a specific person.
They are four lines long.
They have 2 rhyming couplets: line 1 and line 2 rhyme with each other, and line 3 and line 4 rhyme with each other.
Line 1 names a person, and line 2 ends with something that rhymes with the name of the person.
Line 3 has a new rhyme, and line 4 rhymes with it.
A clerihew should be funny, but not rude.

Here is an example of a Clerihew I wrote about a teacher I know.

Miss Harris

My teacher Miss Harris
would love to go to Paris,
but she can’t leave school
because that would break a rule.

Write a Limerick

A limerick is a funny or unusual poem that consists of five lines.
Lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyme.
Lines 3 and 4 rhyme.
Lines 1, 2 and 5 should have 7 to 10 syllables
Lines 3 and 4 are shorter and should have 5 to 7 syllables.
Limericks have a very distinct rhythm when you read them aloud.
Limericks often follow this pattern:

There once was a da from dadah,
who dada da dada da dah.
She dada da dah
and dada da dah.
Da dada da dada da dah.

If that doesn’t make sense, read this example I wrote:

The Poetry Teacher

There once was a poet from West Beach
who didn’t know what poems to teach.
She taught a bad rhyme
but thought it a crime,
then hid all her poems out of reach.

Write a Diamante

A diamante is a 7 line, diamond shaped poem that includes a set number of nouns, adjectives and verbs about a topic.
The first noun is a synonym of the last noun.
They do not rhyme.
Diamante poems look like this:

noun

adjective, adjective,

verb, verb, verb

noun, noun, noun, noun

verb, verb, verb

adjective, adjective

noun

The following poem is a diamante about my pet bearded dragon called Ash.

lizard

spiky, lazy

sleeps, eats, basks

claw, tooth, tail, belly

climbs, stretches, dozes

cute, prickly

dragon

When you have written a poem

When you have written your poem, you may paste it into the comments box on the Your Poem page. I will approve it (which may take about a week), so you can look back in a week or so and see your poem on this website.

If you are a Children’s University student, you can show your poem to your School Co-ordinator for a 30 minute stamp.