Creative Writing Corner

BY BRITTNI WENDLING

The freshman English classes have been chipping away, working on poetry units.  The students have been digging inside of themselves to bring out their inner Shakespeare while adding their own unique and creative twists to their writing. Some of the types of poetry studied in this diverse unit include haikus, sonnets, concrete poems, acrostic poems, and free verse poems.

 A haiku is a short poem with lines of five syllables seven syllables, and
then another five syllables. Here is a spirited haiku written by Brandon
Hogan:

We never give up.
We play to the last second.
We are the Bobcats.

A sonnet is a more complex poem that contains 14 lines with 10 syllables
in each line. It has a definite rhythm and rhyme. The two types of sonnets
include Petrarchan sonnets and Shakespearean sonnets.

Free verse poetry has no patterns of rhyme and rhythm or rules, and it is
basically the most creative form of poetry. Two types of free verse poetry
include concrete poems and acrostics.  Concrete poetry is where the poetry
forms into an image that represents the poetry. An acrostic poem is a poem
where certain letters (usually the first) are used to combine sentences to
represent a word or a saying.

Here is a free verse poem written by Kyle Valentine:

                        War
                My name is short,
                but I last forever.
                Since the dawn of time,
                I have been lurking.
                I am a disease with no cure.
                People say they have
                won me, but really
                I am the victor.
                Men say they control
                the world but I
                control man.
                Man is weak, I am strong.
                I can’t be caged.
                No matter how many
                locks you put on me.
                I always escape.
                Day after day, night
                after night. I continue
                on. Months, years,
                decades I keep burning
                strong like a fire.
                Piles of bodies begin
                to appear because of
                me. Death thanks me
                for the dead and I smile.
                My name is War and
                if man does not end
                me I will end man.

Here is an acrostic poem written by Laila Sahir:

        Lost amongst the written words
        In a jungle of rustling pages,
        Tied to each character by an invisible bond,
        Edging ever nearer to imaginary places,
        Rapt by the indescribable images,
        Amazed at how each
        Tale unfolds.
        Universes are connected through this most spectacular of arts.
        Readers everywhere take delight in these printed worlds.
        Extraordinary fantasies become realities through the human imagination.