Poetry is therapeutic. I’m closing out Poetry Month with reflections on the power of poetry. Stress and Duress Words flow out of my pen (or keyboard) during times of stress and duress. Vulnerabilities are exposed and I am eager to explore them. Raw emotion bubbles to the surface. I am forced to deal with difficult and persistent problems. Whether health, family conflict, or financial woes, poetry helps put them in perspective. Poetry gets at the root of a problem with a minimum of words. Finding the perfect word to express an idea, an emotion, a feeling, drives me to explore the depths of those ideas, emotions, and feelings. It compels…
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Diamante and Haiku
There are more than a hundred different poetry forms. Today I want to introduce you to diamante and haiku. Diamante The diamante poetry form is a relative newcomer. It was invented in 1969 by an American poet and educator named Iris McClellan Tiedt. The rules for this form are very straightforward. There are seven lines. The first and last lines have a single noun. The second and sixth lines have two adjectives. The third and fifth lines contain three verbs. The middle-or fourth line is made up of four nouns. When centered on the page this poetry form is diamond-shaped. That’s where it gets its name. Diamante is Italian for…
