322 - Cinquains

Cinquains
By Mary W. Large

Cinquain
French poetry
playing with words
trivial, fanciful, facile, fun
joyeuse

Cinquain
poesie Francaise
les mots jouent
J'aime ces exercices fous
plaisir

School
happy place
listening, thinking, doing
we delight in learning
growth

Church
caring people
serving God gladly
place for me here
fulfillment

Calvary
God death
despised and rejected
we are all guilty
sacrifice

Children
enchanting provocations
stealing our hearts
on loan from God
renunciation

Cinquain
artificial framework
forcing silly phrases
words caught in traps
monotony

School
unhappy place
no people understanding
I just want out
despair

Church
stone building
important people busy
no time for me
rejection

Easter
tomb empty
all run astonished
believe the unbelievable truth
resurrection

Housework
dishes dirt
family never noticing
I'm a used thing
resentment

Mary W. Large is a graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman's College and Columbia University. A mother, a teacher, and an "elder" in her local church in Flemington, N.J., she prepared these five-line stanzas for a seminary course on "Religious Journalism." A cinquain is a French poetic form, consisting of five lines: the first is the title, the second describes the title in two words, the third suggests action words about the title, the fourth uses four feeling words, and the last line refers back to the title in one word again. Those are the rules of the game; any number can play.

323 - Cinquains

Christian
believer wayfarer
following the Master
Help, Thou, my unbelief
forgiveness

Theology
God study
doing the impossible
finite mind against infinity
awe

Journalism
who what
why when where
eager to tell others
news