One of my current favourite forms of short-form poetry is the cinquain. I'm actually beginning to like cinquains better than haiku, since the extra couple of lines seems to give me added freedom to say just a bit more. Even though the cinquain should still carry a lot of weight in a few words, even though it is still a rather brief form, I find it a little less restrictive than haiku.

Mostly, when writing cinquains, I try to follow the form developed by Adelaide Crapsey, although I'm sure I take liberties with the details of metre and such. A cinquain in the Crapsey form should follow the syllable pattern of 2-4-6-8-2, usually iambic. It should also work up to a turn, occurring in the final line or immediately before it, similar to the twist or turn in a sonnet.

As with the speculative derivative of haiku, scifaiku and horrorku, cinquains can be speculative in nature. They can have science fiction, fantasy, folkloric, or horror themes.

I don't profess to be an expert at cinquain composition, but I've written quite a few, and I've even had several published here-and-there.

The Sheerie

Lambs lost
from Christian fold
bewitch with corpse-light brands,
jealously leading the living
to death.

(Originally published in Aphelion, November, 2009)

Yellow Eyes

Fey sparks
flash in darkness,
baring that savage soul,
a hungry spectre feral and
feline.

(Originally published in Every Day Poets, June 26, 2009)
(This one is questionably speculative, but sometimes my works may be on the fringe between speculative and mainstream.)

Two-Dimensional Visitors

Shadows
slipping sideways
through reality's cracks
drift past my vision, then turn and
vanish.

(Originally published in Aphelion, February 2009)


My Final Masterpiece

Naked,
bound together
by rusty razor wire,
our bloodied bodies cry passion
and death.

(Originally published in Niteblade, December 2008)

Cinquains can also be combined to create longer works, in cinquain chains and cinquain swirls.

Chupa-chupas

Star lights,
Earthward falling
offspring of distant suns
plummet through dark skies suffering
hunger.

Beings
from worlds beyond
human belief prowl this
steamy Brazilian night searching
for prey.

Savage
spirits glimmer
above my veranda,
flashing green and red as they stalk
their game

Pulsing
satisfaction,
glittering entities
catch me in crimson beams to drain
my life.

Fell fire
sets flesh ablaze
while ionised blood boils.
Ebbing vitality feeds those
fey lights.

(Originally published in Hungur Issue 7, All Souls' Night 2008)