Forms of Poetry

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Forms of Poetry
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Narrative Poem

• Narrative poems tell a story in verse.

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Graves, Donald. The Lie. Baseball, Snakes and
Summer Squash. Honesdale Boyds Mill Press, 1996.
43-44.

• Mother is in the hospital
• for an operation
• and Grandma Sanderson
• has come to take care of us.
• Shes strict.
• If Im two minutes
• late from play,
• she grips my wrist tightly
• and swings me to a chair
• to think about it.
• I skin my knee
• and get a deep cut.
• She looks worried.
• When you go to school,
• ask the nurse what to do.
• On the way home,

• I remember Ive forgotten.
• I know this is more serious
• than being late from play.
• I imagine a spanking,
• early to bed for a week,
• or extra work on Saturday.
• She asks me what the nurse said.
• Wash it very carefully
• with soap and water,
• dry it, put on vaseline
• and then place a band-aid over the top.
• (Thats what Mother
• would have said,
• except shed use
• iodine which stings.)
• -Donald Graves

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Haikus

• A concise form of Japanese poetry that has
  strict rules about syllables and length (5, 7, 5
  syllables). Topics can include nature and
  feelings
• Silence around usOur watchful eyes hear the
  worldHands do the talking-Jennifer, Virginia

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Limerick

• Limericks are humorous five line poems with an
  aabba rhyming pattern.
• A Cold Woman -By Paul McCann
• There once was a woman of ice.
• She never knew how to be nice.
• She spent all of her life,
• on the edge of a knife,
• cutting herself off from advice.