Flying fish have developed an ingenious way of fleeing from their predators: They leap out of the water and use their large, wing-like fins to "fly" several meters away from a pursuing enemy! It is remarkable to see.
The problem for the fish comes when it doesn't see a boat that is traveling in its path. Just as it leaps to escape its enemy...splat! The fish lands on the deck of a passing boat! When we're making ocean crossings, I wake every morning to find one, a few, or several flying fish scattered on the deck. I have counted as many as eighteen fish on deck!
Flying fish are superb and clumsy at once; I love them. Later in this blog entry, read a poem I wrote about flying fish.
Busy Brains love to write poems!
Poems are fun to write. Some poems rhyme. Others follow a form, regarding the number of words or syllables in each line. Haiku is an ancient type of poem that follows a form of syllables. There are many variations on haiku, but the most common form is a 5-7-5 syllable haiku. Here is an example:
Black cat turns his back
ears back to check that you know
you're being ignored
by Josh, age 15
Another type of poem that kids enjoy writing is a cinquain poem. In a cinquain poem, the form refers to the number of words in each line. When written out, a cinquain poem often looks like a Christmas tree, because the words in each line steadily increase until the last line. A cinquain poem is written: 1 word, 2 words, 3 words, 4 words, 5 words, 1 word.
Here's an example of a cinquain poem:
Autumn
Colorful leaves
Red, orange, gold
Pile the leaves high
Run fast and jump in
Crunch!
by Katelyn, age 7
One of the best things about poems, is that as a writer, you're not bound to the same rules of grammar that you are when you write a paragraph. You're free to experiment with different forms of writing. You can even invent a new poem form. Why not?? Since I'm currently traveling around on my sailboat, I decided to invent a new kind of cinquain poem that I call a "Sailboat Cinquain" poem. Here's how it works:
The top part is the same as a regular cinquain poem (1 word, 2 words, 3 words, 4 words, 5 words, 1 word). The bottom part makes it a "sailboat" cinquain (5 words, 4 words, 3 words). Have fun trying one of your own!
Here's an example of a Sailboat Cinquain poem I wrote about flying fish:
Splat!
Flying fish
Hit the boat
Flipping, flopping on deck
Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen fish!
Pity
They can't aim any better
Exquisitly soaring and flying
Until they...splat!
Busy Brains Challenge:
Try writing a poem yourself! Write a haiku (5-7-5 syllables), a cinquain poem (1,2,3,4,5,1 words), or try a "sailboat" cinquain poem (just like a regular cinquain poem, but finish with 5,4,3 words to make the bottom of the sailboat form).
Here's how to share your answer with other Busy Brains:
1. First, click on the title of this post.
2. Go to the bottom of the post and click on the words "Post a comment".
Come on! It's easy and fun! You'll be able to see your answer posted with the other answers on the next Busy Brains posting!
1 comment:
Here's a cinquain poem I wrote about my dog, Ofer.
Ofer
My dog
Her name means
Oh, for goodness sake!
Because she does crazy things.
Ofer
By Kelly K.
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