Picking a Poetic Form

I like to write in forms: haiku, limerick, diamante, etc., and in coming months, I might share tips for some of my favorite forms. Someone asked me recently, though, how I decide on which form best suits a particular topic, so I thought I’d share a little of that process with you this month.

I’ve been working on a set of 6 poetry collections for Capstone Press, and in each collection, I try to include a limerick, diamante, acrostic, haiku, and cinquain. In the last one, I put in a poem for two voices, though I’m not sure that will make it into the final draft. So out of 16-20 poems (in each collection), how do I decide which one or two are haiku, which make good acrostics, etc.?

Some of it is just intuitive. And some of it is just desperation, aka trial and error. If a poem isn’t working in free verse, I might try a form. If it’s not working in one form, I might try a different form. But there is some method to my poetic style, and the same kinds of poems often end up with the same form.

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