How To Write A Diamante Poem

I Googled 'types of poems' and I found all kinds of unusual names for all sorts of unusual poem structures--the most symmetrical and awe-inspiring of which I found the diamante poem.

Diamante (pronounced dee-uh-MAHN-tay) poems are in the shape of a diamond, and have seven lines; the first and seventh lines have one word each, the second and sixth lines have two, the third and fifth lines have three words each, and the fourth line has four words. 
Lines one, four, and seven have nouns.
Lines two and six have adjectives.
Lines three and five have verbs.

The writer Kenn Nesbitt, on his website, has provided a very useful way to remember all these rules:

Noun
Adjective, Adjective
Verb, Verb, Verb
Noun, Noun, Noun, Noun
Verb, Verb, Verb
Adjective, Adjective
Noun

There are two kinds of diamantes: synonym diamantes and antonym diamantes.
Synonym diamantes talk about two things of the same kind; for example:

Monsters
Evil, Spooky
Howling, Shrieking, Wailing
Ghosts, Vampires, Goblins, Witches
Flying, Scaring, Terrifying
Creepy, Crawly
Creatures

Antonym diamantes talk about two opposite or different things:

Cat
Gentle, Sleepy
Purring, Meowing, Scratching
Whiskers, Fur, Collar, Leash
Barking, Licking, Digging
Slobbery, Playful
Dog

In the fourth line, the first two nouns describe the noun in the first line and the last two nouns describe the noun in the last line.

Personally, I think diamante poems would be easier to write if we just made sure that the poem ended up looking like a diamond, instead of having to write nouns, or adjectives, or verbs in a particular line; but then, I suppose the pleasure is in sticking to the rules as much as possible, and churning out a masterpiece anyway.  

Semper gratiam habebo, lector! (I hope Google Translate's right.) Good bye, and good night!  See you on the next post! (Coming soon.)

The Hope Diamond, The Museum of Natural History

References:

Poetry4Kids: http://www.poetry4kids.com/blog/lessons/how-to-write-a-diamante-poem/

Slaves.

Slaves

We are all slaves, such slaves!
Slaves of the people we love,
And who act a certain way,
Not knowing they hurt us,
Because they don't care.
We are slaves, for we do not see any good
In trying to right their wrongs,
For we know their plates are full
With sin,
And if we make them aware
They will say something worse
Than what they already had,
And we are slaves, we are afraid
That we might bring upon them misfortune
And so we keep quiet
Not daring to utter a word
Held back by fear, helplessness,
And love.
Such slaves!

~Vruta Gupte.

Two-Word Poem #2

My second two-word poem. I'm a fan of these; so much can be said in just two words.
It's what you don't say that matters in this kind of poetry more than what you do say. The rest is up to the imagination of the reader.

“She laughed."

Silence

SILENCE

Sometimes I feel

Inadequate to face life

I feel everyone

Is smarter, happier, better

Than me, and I wonder if it is true.

I try

To console myself

With the thought

That each one of us bears

A different soul inside of ourselves

And so none of us can ever be the same.

None will see the world as I do—

A happy place that can mend its many flaws and survive, earn respect, even.

None will be like me—

Calm, mellow, silent, yet infectiously happy

Or at least that is how I perceive myself to be.

I sit here

Imperfect as I am

Braving the world, ever-changing, full of its cruelties

And I realize

That to survive in this noisy, chaotic, unplanned universe

You must first find within yourself

Your silence.

-Vruta Gupte.

(I wrote this a few days ago.  It's sad, but it describes almost perfectly how I felt at the time.)



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Thoughts About Silence

I was thinking....about silence....and came up with this.  I wouldn't say it's a poem--just a series of thoughts that occurred to me when I sat down in front of a blank screen...to write.



Why are we complaining about not feeling quiet when we can easily find the silence inside ourselves?

Why are we blaming everybody else when we know nobody will be able to help us find our true silence (because each individual's silence is of a different kind)?

Why does creation--a largely dynamic, fluctuating action--rely so much on being alone and silencing the buzz inside your mind?

What thought process of ours limits us to the noise of the outside world and keeps us from finding our true selves?

Noise is necessary if you want to know silence--just like you have to know what darkness is if you want to see the light--but most of us seem to think otherwise.

Why is there a common misconception that silence means stagnation and not progress or contentment?  

Are we afraid of silence?

These might appear somewhat deep, but, really, they're just thoughts....that might make a difference.

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What Happened At Midnight

This is a poem I wrote last December...at midnight.  (Yes, how surprising.)

WHAT HAPPENED AT MIDNIGHT?

It was midnight

And I could not sleep.

So I sat up in my bed

And rubbed my eyes.

I could see elves outside my window,

Flying on Santa’s reindeers,

With gifts wrapped in white-and-blue paper

And shimmering bows,

Houses of candies

And a palace of chocolate and bubblegum

That had no windows.

The air was filled with

The sugary smell of

Waffles in syrup

And caramel pieces

In whipped cream.

And then my sleeping mind

Woke up

And I realized

It had all been just a dream.

But who ever said

That dreams cannot be real?

 - Vruta Gupte

See y'all on the next post!

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Homework Excuses: Part Two

This is Part Two of the Homework Excuses series.  To view Part One, click here!

I DIDN'T DO MY HOMEWORK

I didn't do my homework--
I just thought you should know.
I cannot tell my teacher
I've forgotten it, y'know.

I had a soup of numbers
And squiggles inside my head
So I couldn't do my homework
I went to the park instead.

My history book got lost
My homework got delayed.
So I travelled to the past
And wrote about the next decade.

My books flew away--
They sprouted wings, you see.
And then they all straightened up
And spit some ink on me.

Yikes!  Oh, no, the teacher's coming!
What am I going to do?
Should I just go and tell her
The excuses I've told you?

~Vruta Gupte.

Note:  This may be used to improve your teacher's mood in the unlikely event of you not doing your homework.  Yes?

Thank you for reading, and see you on the next post!

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Homework Excuses: Part One

Note to Reader:  These excuses may be used in school....for a small fee: no names, please!

HOMEWORK SOUP

I didn’t have anything to do this evening,

Besides my homework vile.

So I rounded up all my books and

Made them stand in single file.

I made them march past the pen stand blue

And dip themselves in ink.

Then I poured them into a cauldron

And stirred till their pages were pink.

I heated them up until they were burnt brown,

Then I dried them in the sun.

So the next time my teacher asks for them,

I’ll say, “Oh, my homework’s well done.”

- Vruta Gupte.

(No books were harmed during the production and imagination of this poem.  Thank you.)

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