Acrostic Poetry

Writing poems started for me in grade school when we wrote in autograph books.  They were simple poems, like, "Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you."  Some were silly, some were serious, but all of them were the beginnings of our choosing our own words to write with.

Acrostic poems may appear elementary, but they can be taken to any level.  1)  Pick a subject, any subject.  2)  Think of things that relate to that subject.  3)  Write the subject vertically on a piece of paper, one letter at a time.  4)  Write each line of the poem relating to your chosen subject.  An example .....

_________________________A_________________________

_________________________U_________________________

_________________________ T________________________

_________________________ U________________________

_________________________M_________________________

_________________________N_________________________

TIME FOR LEAVES TO FALL OFF TREES

PATCHES OF PUMPKINS FOR THE KIDS

DAYLIGHT HOURS ARE SHORTER EACH DAY

TEMPERATURES TURNING COLD AND CRISP

HARVEST MOONS ADORN THE SKY

GARDENING SEASON HAS SAID ITS GOOD-BYE.



Our brains have fun playing around with words if we give them the chance.  Writing poems, for me, is simply a way to think deeper, and it's a great way to explore subjects that interest me.  Acrostics can be written using the name of a person and then writing a description of him/her.  Put the letters anywhere in the sentence, at the beginning or end, or in between like I did with this one of Autumn. 

Take a spiral notebook and write a poem each day, simple as it may be.  You'll impress yourself in one month when you go back and re-read them.  I'll betcha you'll say to yourself, "Did I really write that?"

"Breathe-in experience, breathe-out poetry."   ~ Muriel Rukeyser