Cinquains by Aaron Toleos
Aaron Toleos created this website in 2005 as a project for a master's thesis on Adelaide Crapsey and the cinquain. As part of his research, he spent a semester writing original cinquains. A selection of those appear below.
Aaron's reflections on writing these cinquains are available on the theory page. Scroll down to the "American cinquain" section.
Contact Aaron at aaron@toleos.com.
VIOLETS
How they
sag, honeybee,
each one, as you lick from
their middles and hang by your six
black legs. |
|
EARTHWORM
On the
puddle's bottom,
beside the filter from
a cigarette, your drowned body
turns white. |
|
RAKING OUT THE GARDEN
In my
wake, where the clumps
of matted leaves had been,
titmice flit and tear earthworms from
the dirt. |
|
A QUICKENING
Nestled
into the bark
of a maple tree, the
gray moth looks dead, until I
touch it. |
|
CHEVY TAHOE
Crushed
kadup, kadup
into the gray asphalt
and forgotten, "I'm late for work,
raccoon." |
|
MORNING COMMUTE
I can't
go fast enough
towards it, this fat blue sky,
this flood above my knuckles and
the wheel. |
|
SMOKER
Beneath
her new silk blouse,
past the cotton fibers
of her bra and freckled skin, lung
cancer. |
|
JUMP
As the
squirrel gathers
himself on a young pine,
the maple branch he left behind
quivers. |
|
|
