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There are many formulas for cinquains, which means a five-line poem or a poem made up of stanzas of five lines. The American Cinquain is credited to American poet Adelaide Crapsey, who wrote dozens of them following her own particular formula of syllables spread over the five lines like this:
2
4
6
8
2
Her cinquains share a minimalist, image-focused quality with Japanese haiku or tanka. I invite you to try writing one! They are quite fun!
Cities
Cities:
great clattering
stacks of worlds within worlds–
they move from sweet to harsh so fast,
so fast.