Pam Webb

Poetry Workshop: #2 Definition Poems

DEFINITION POETRY

Take any word or concept or topic and define through a mix or poetical flow and concrete definition to better understand what it is all about, especially on a personal level.

 So It Is With Language

Grammar is the spine

Of prose and all we know

That is called language,

Which is can be spoken

Or written down.

And all those nouns

And verbs

And prepositions

And modifiers that often dangle

And nominative clauses that

Sometimes tangle

Up

Our understanding

Are the vertebrae

And without our vertebrae

There would be not spine

To stand us up

So it is with language

CM-2012

 Childhood

Childhood is that momentary suspense

of disbelief and discovery

That happens all too quickly

Yet,

that eye blink lasts a goodly twelve years by the book

Or quicker

depending on the generation

And for a lucky few

childhood remains

only hidden in discretion

likely to pop out

as the sun peeps behind

the seriousness of gray skies

to offset the dour day

CM-2012

What I appreciate most about definition poetry is how it allows flexibility of perspective.  It captures connotation and denotation without being all textbookish.  And isn’t it oh so clever to sneak in a vocabulary lesson whilst having fun creating wordplay?

Related articles

• Rule One (leeroyberlin.com)
• “Playing With Definitions” (studentpoetry2013.wordpress.com)
• Shaping Up Poetry: Found Poems (cricketmuse.wordpress.com)