CINQUAINS

This is a technique for composing “a fun form of poetry.”

The word “poet” is derived from the Greek poietes, meaning “poet,” and also “creator.”

The word “cinquain” comes from the French for “five” (cinq) and pertains to a poem consisting of five lines in total; no more, no less.

There are a set of rules, which help anyone become an instant poet of the fifth dimension. Try it and feel joyous. Kick-start your creativity!

Line 1 must contain only one word, and it must be a noun.
Line 2 has two descriptive words (adjectives).
Line 3 has three action words (verbs).
Line 4 needs you to make a statement in four words (feelings)
Line 5 winds up the show with one word that means the same, or has some close connection to the noun on the first line.

For example, we could have:

Magic
Mysterious, Wondrous
Appearing, Disappearing, Reappearing,
What a strange experience!
Superfantasticacious!

Pizzas
Flat, Round,
Sizzling, Swirling, Spinning,
Food for fun kids;
Frisbeeee!

Zoology
Extinct, Extant,
Evolving, Morphing, Interrelating;
The study of animals;
BIOLOGY!

Arithmetic
Simple, Complex;
Adding, Subtracting, Multiplying
And oh! Division too!
Calculations!

Now write your own Cinquains!

NOTE: Cinquains are powerful learning tools for students of all ages (adults too), to creatively distill their understanding of diverse ideas and concepts. The deliberately concise 5-line format forces us to slash all inessential details and home in on only the most critical information.

Whatever we focus on, from arithmetic to zoology, we must express the essence of our topic within the eleven words of the cinquain.

This means that we have to think deeply, clearly, and creatively, so as to come up with the core elements of our subject matter within the tight structure of the cinquain.

By doing so, we challenge ourselves to create masterpieces of original work that can stay in our memories, for as long as we wish!

Good thinking leads to easy learning!

[Excerpted from the 'Thinkerbelles' edition of The InGenius Series of bookazines by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

A WISE QUOTE FOR MONDAY MORNING

"You never know when someone
May catch a dream from you.
You never know when a little word
Or something you may do
May open the windows
Of a mind that seeks the light...
The way you live may not matter at all,
But you never know, it might."

~ Mrs Helen Lowrie Marshall (1904-1975), a prolific poet who had lived in Denver, Colorado, during the sixties/seventies;

A POET'S ADVICE

A poet is somebody who feels, and who expresses his feelings through words.

This may sound easy. It isn't.

A lot of people think or believe or know they feel - but that's thinking or believing or knowing; not feeling. And poetry is feeling - not knowing or believing or thinking.

Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught how to feel. Why? Because whenever you think or you believe or you know, you're a lot of other people; but the moment you feel, you're nobody but yourself.

To be nobody-but-yourself . . . in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make everybody else . . . means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.

As for expressing nobody-but-yourself in words, that means working just a little harder than anybody who isn't a poet can possibly imagine. Why? Because nothing is quite easy as using words like somebody else. We all of us do exactly this nearly all of the time . . . and whenever we do it, we are not poets.

If, at the end of your first ten or fifteen years of fighting and working and feeling, you find you've written one line of one poem, you'll be very lucky indeed.

And so my advice to all young people who wish to become poets is: do something easy, like learning how to blow up the world . . . unless you're not only willing, but glad, to feel and work and fight till you die.

Does this sound dismal? It isn't.

It's the most wonderful life on earth.

Or so I feel.

e. e. cummings

[Excerpted from 'Building Brainpower: Turning Grey Matter into Gold', by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.]

WE ARE BORN TO BE CREATIVE

We are born to be creative.
To do.
To risk.
To shine our own light.

During your life journey,
you choose which lands you wish to visit:
Excitement or boredom?
Adventure or excuses?

Excuses drag you down.
Courage lifts you up.

Waiting is a slow death.
Action changes the world.

You owe it to yourself
& to others
to become
what makes you special.

~ from the book, 'Blackboards, Bubbles & Cappuccinos', by Ruth Tearle, a veteran change management expert from Cape Town, South Africa;