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)
Pam Webb 