poetry – Iniya Writes

the weight of an almond- a poem

an almond weighs as much as an almost
when it sits in your hand, brown, guileless
and when it crunches in between your teeth
and leaves its skin in your smile

almonds are the past;
the smell of a kitchen, the taste of flaky pastries,
the bitter tang of things left unsaid

almonds are untrue;
they want to be nuts, but they are not.
only i know the truth. i hold it close to my chest

almonds are cultivated;
they’re not found in the wild anymore,
we keep them to ourselves selfishly, we do not share

almonds are slow;
give them time, let them sprout into a beauty
or hold them tight to your chest and watch them rot

maybe next time i hold an almond, i will throw it out into the world
or maybe i will crunch it again
and let my teeth stain almond-skin-brown with regret.

I wrote this for the Scholastic Art and Writing competition and got a silver key!

The Jack of Hearts: a Poem

I recently tried a prompt about pulling a card from a deck and writing a poem based on that card. My card was the Jack of Hearts, which represents young love and playfulness. I hope you enjoy the poem I wrote!

The Jack of Hearts walks eagerly along a path,
plays with his crowns, tossing it
up, down, up down.
He surveys the courtyard, plucks a rose,
tucks it into his hair.
Sits on the swing, lets
the breeze push him
back, forth, back, forth.
Lets himself relax, lets himself
hear the beat of his heart.
Lets himself feel free,
allows himself a moment to
fall in love with the world.

Darkness

This is a poem I wrote where, for the first line of each stanza, I used the second line of the previous one. I hope you like it!

It’s dark in here
There are no windows
No light,
from the outside

There are no windows,
no way to view
what’s been waiting
for me

No way to view
the truth
of the world
instead forced to accept

The truth-
the darkness isn’t
that bad
you get used to it, or you don’t

the darkness isn’t
your friend, but
it isn’t a monster either
it just lives, and lurks

and you learn to do so too

The Everglades

Recently, I’ve been trying to experiment around with different poem styles- instead of classics like free style, limericks, or sonnets, I’ve been trying to find some unique styles- like the nonet! The nonet is based on syllable count and each line decreases, starting from 9 syllables-1 syllable.

I decided to write my nonet about the Everglades, which I got to visit when I went to Miami. They were incredible, and we even got to see an alligator, plus a heron! I enjoyed it a lot, so here’s my nonet about the Everglades!

You would think that in swampy waters
Nothing would dare to grow or live
I can prove you wrong, just take
a look at Florida’s
Everglades, where
wildlife thrives
everywhere,
just find
it

Here are some of the pictures from the Everglades!

What are some unique poetry styles that you know of?

Black-Out Poetry

Recently, in my English class, we learned about Black-Out poetry. Black-out poetry is when you take an article, books, existing poetry, or any written material and black out some of the words to create new sentences and poetry. It’s a really fun creative exercise and I enjoyed it a lot! Here’s some of the black-out poetry that I did.

Poem 1:

Poem 2:

Poem 3:

The first poem was created out of an article about basements, the second was about a musical, and the third was about wild turkeys. As you can tell, none of the poems really stick with the themes of those articles, which is what makes black-out poetry so fun. You can play around with your topics and what’s important in your poem.

If you’d like to try black-out poetry here are the simple steps!

Find an article or piece of writing that you enjoy or would like to try writing with. This can be any article and does not have to align with your end product!
Start blacking out swathes of text so you are left with words or phrases that you enjoy and you think add to your poem.
If you find yourself getting stuck or are not sure what to black out, try a pattern! Maybe black out every ten words, then save the eleventh! Even just by trying, you can create something extraordinary.
You can also try to be artistic! Many poets who do black out poetry drawing pictures or make illustrations out of their work and it can end up looking beautiful.

Have/Will you try blackout poetry? What other kinds of poetry do you like?