The Awakening
Morning
Silence, golden
Stirring, warming, blooming
Hope shall awaken with the dawn
Awake
Steps Forward
Dreaming
Softness, sharing
Growing, reaching, daring
Soft footprints upon the pathway
Advance
Midday Dance
Sunlight
Bold, unyielding
Shining, lifting, guiding
Hearts beating in a steady rhyme
Alive
Evening Whispers
Shadows
Cool, retreating
Soothing, calming, fading
Soft hush of a gentle twilight
Release
Night’s Embrace
Starlight
Silent, tender
Watching, yearning, dreaming
Temptations unite all to rest
Complete.
Traditional Cinquain Poetry Contest
1/21/2026
Sponsored by: Sotto Poet
NOTE:AMERICAN CINQUAIN (an imagist stressed version)WAS DEVISED BY ADELAIDE CRAPSEY (William Soutar Epigrams are a similar wordplay form)
Tribute to William Soutar
Grew to manhood on the river Tay,
Writing poems ,most every day;
Cinquains,epigrams,whigmaleerie-
His diary of a dying man,left
Telling observations, for all to see.
A cinquain in Soutar style
Desire
welled within-
words became a promise
so sublime,to love now and for
all time.
I
Roles
beyond her age:
worker, carer, teacher,
parent, sister, lover, cleaner.
Alone.
II
A girl
made a woman
by a lover thought true,
a passion she believed worthy
of her.
III
Scarred
by cruel men
beyond her own control.
Emotional wounds left open,
heart wide.
IV
Mother,
black in mourning,
sought a burial, small,
in desperation. Cold, bleak, stone.
Grieving.
V
Stoic.
Astute. Selfless.
Forgiving. Gentle. Bold.
Important. Remembered. Loved -
she, Tess.
thank you
cinquains’ can show
caring needing sharing
always a pleasure to convey
feelings
caring
for all forms
starving dying wanting
words are all I have no respite
so sad
wanting
to do so much
conveying empathy
with words, I hope there’s’ more like me
I hope
The Note
Compost
Bin held the note
Written in poetic form
Love poured out upon the blank page
Decayed
Written by: Sara Kendrick
March 06, 2016
Form: Cinquain
The Bus Depot
Grey Hound
Waits for no one
A rented box contains
Smart phone, credit cards, love poem
Transport
Night dreams
bring you to me,
aglow with tenderness,
shining love beyond the borders
of time.
Your hands,
warmth covers me,
through the darkness of night,
your soul a soft blanket for mine,
I smile.
Your voice,
whispers to me
secret words to my ear,
promising what the night can bring
for us.
Your skin,
touches my own,
in a sweet heated bliss
we have fed on love and are full,
at last.
~~~
Summer
Hot sultry
Scorching burning de-hydrating
Breeze rustles the leaves
Sunny
Rain
Fresh
Drizzling Refreshing invigorating
Freshness in the leaves
Monsoon
Autumn
Bereft dull
Crumpling fading descending
Break off, the leaves
Fall
Winter
Harsh cold
Snowing chilling
Blizzard burying leaves
Frost
Spring
Colourful beautiful
Blooming blossoming flowering
Green are all the leaves
Vernal
~~~
Aries
Cardinal sign
The Ram. Colour: Red, like
your beautiful hair, as soft as
lambs wool
Taurus
Fixed sign. Earth sign
Artistic. Creative.
Your inspiring words stand strong like
the bull
The Twins
Mutable sign
Gemini. Positive,
like the support you freely give
twofold
Cancer
Cardinal sign
The Crab. You are full of
love and compassion, wide as the
ocean
Leo
Fixed sign. Fire sign
The Lion. Gold, like your
beautiful heart, which eclipses
the sun
Virgo
Mutable sign
The Virgin. Colour: Brown
Like your eyes, reflecting the stars,
purely
Libra
Cardinal sign
The Scales. Your beauty and
your inner spirit perfectly
balanced
Unlike
Scorpio, The
Scorpion, You’ve no sting
Goodness adorns you and stands as
your tail
Archer
Just like Cupid
Sagittarius Man
Fires from his fingers, arrows to
your heart
The Goat
Cardinal sign
Capricorn. The wisdom
and beauty in all you write, speak
mountains
Water
Bearer. Fixed sign
Aquarius. Your warm
words that brighten friends’ days, ever
flowing
Pisces
Mutable sign.
The Fish. All your poems
enriching this soup in which we’re
swimming
Poems
in shapely form,
displaying syllables
or stresses in a versatile
refrain.
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.