LANTERNE

SPRING

Sand
cacti
when there's rain
desert blooming
hats.

    Today's poem is a Lanterne and I wouldn't know the term except my friend, children's poet, Matt Forrest challenged me to write four poems in four days and then find four friends to tag and ask them to write poems too.  Except, the last time I did this I had a hard time finding four friends who hadn't already been tapped to write poems.  AND this is Memorial Day weekend.  It is my birthday weekend and I don't want my friends to have to be glued to their computers posting poems when it is going to be a great weekend to be outdoors.
For my birthday, my husband is taking me caving.  Doesn't that sound like fun?  It is something I've never done before and I'm looking forward to it
  But, let's get back to the lanterne, because that is your poetry challenge for today.  Try writing one.  A lanterne is a form of cinquain poem.  It has five lines.  The title can work to make a sixth line for you or go without a title.  The first line has only one syllable, then each successive line adds one more syllable, until you get to the last line which has only one syllable again.  It is called a lanterne because if the poem is set with a certer margin, or centered on the page it looks like a lantern.  Each line should be able to stand on its own.

SPRING

Sand

cacti

when there's rain

desert blooming

hats.

That is a funny looking lantern to me.  I originally ended this poem with the word spring (and I didn't have a title),  but when I went back to edit, I was thinking of the Mother's Day hats that the Saguaro wear--pretty white flowers in a ring on the top.  I like the surprise of the hats at the end because when it rains, people put on hats too.  So there is a layered meaning at the end of the poem.

Line 1 = 1 syllable

Line 2 = 2 syllables

Line 3 = 3 syllables

Line 4 = 4 syllables

Line 5 = 1 syllable

An 11 syllable poem can be tricky.

 

   Now it is your turn.  Will you try writing your own lanterne?  If you want, please post your poem in the comments below.

Lantern Poem

copyright 2014, Joy Acey

Wild
wart hogs
trot around
the water hole
run


    The form of this poem is a lantern or lanterne.  I like to think of it as a half cinquain.  It has five lines like a cinquain, but each line has half as many syllables.  So there is one syllable in the first line, then 2,3,4, and 1 syllable in each of the next lines.  This form is difficult because word choice is heavily favored for one syllable words.  Thus the scope of the poem is very limited.  The lantern has fewer words than a haiku.  Plus starting and ending with just one word lines is difficult.  How do you think I did in writing this one?  Now it is your turn to try.
   My friend David Harrison has a poem challenge this month using the word evergreen.  You can find poems using this word on his blog at www.davidlharrison.wordpress.com

So let's see if I can do this, writing a lantern using evergreen.  Since evergreen is a three syllable word, I'll need to split it into two words.  An evergreen is a tree, so I'll use that for my first word.  Now all I need to do is fill in the middle.

Tree
growing
stretching tall
standing ever
green

This is my first draft.  But looking at this, I think if I change this to a pine tree, I can do more.

Pine
growing
loblolly
stretching ever
green

    Have fun trying to write your own lantern poem.