Exploring Poetry Forms – Acrostic Poetry

Words often need an order
Revealing a chaos otherwise,
Intelligent people kept quiet
Totally forgetting the curiosity
Emptying feelings on paper is bliss

This is a short verse I thought to begin with when I was was asked to write a “how to” series on Poetry. First thing that comes to mind is how poetry differs from prose ? I have read many definitions and asked few people around , and the common feature of poetry that everyone shared was that poetry is fluid , open to multiple interpretations and often though it conveys the same message , poetry is more beautiful than most prose. If you ask me , I am not biased against any kind of writing till it serves the purpose of expression and sharing.

Till I started writing poetry and later exploring poetry forms , I was under impression that all poetry should rhyme. A poem sure should have a flow and rhythm but that is different from rhyme. Very very different. And so , there are lot of poetry forms – some adapted / modified from original forms that one can experiment with. When someone who has never written a poem before and has asked me where to begin, I immediately think of ACROSTIC .

If you go back and notice the verse above , read the highlighted letters as one and you will find them to make the word “WRITE” , which happens to be the title of the Poem too.

This is an example of Acrostic poetry.

Acrostic poetry is a poetry form where the first letters or the last letters of each line spell out a message related to the poem or the title of the poem.

Like –

Once in a while , we all
discover magic, believe it too
till life takes over the days
and dreams remain only for night

There are some people who have managed to write a double acrostic – where the first and last letters both spell a word or message.

There is an alphabet acrostic too which simply is a poem whose first letters are in alphabetical order –

Another life time,
Bright days will last
Childhood will never end
Daring the heart to love.

One can experiment with any phrase or shape using Acrostics till your poem has dual message – one in lines, one with letters. Here is an interesting site that helps you write your first acrostic :

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/acrostic/

Have fun and do share your poems with me.

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