Magic Potion – The Poem
potions were many, for perfect one he scrambled
all across the world, he rambled
till his feet bled
foraging the ethereal altogether
put all his efforts together
for that ether
Ether that gives life to lifeless in just one spray
hope he finds it one day, I pray
only hope’s ray!
What is a ‘diminishing poem’?
It is a poem in which the end word of the first line of each stanza keeps on diminishing in size as the end word of the succeeding lines. Either you have to remove the first letter of each end word or the first few letters.
How to write a Diminishing Poem/Verse?
Simple, like this:
- Select the end-words that can be reduced in size a few times, still making them a meaningful word.
- Think of the theme of the poem (as in a story you want to write or a message you want to convey).
- String them together to form a poem.
- Additionally, you can also try doing this:
- Try to make the size of each stanza equal.
- Try also to reduce the length of the line uniformly in each stanza. For example, you can reduce the syllable count or the number of words (by the same number).
- Make all the verses the same length.
- Make a poem scan.
About the poem -Magic Potion
This is a poem about a person looking for a magic potion. A potion, that may bring the already dead men to life. This potion is most likely out of the world.
But this is a ray of hope for the speaker of the poem if he can find the magic potion.
This poem follows the following pattern:
- Each stanza is made up of 3 lines. The first line is 12 syllables long.
- The length of each line keeps reducing by 4 syllables in each of the two succeeding lines. Therefore the second line is 8-syllable long and the third line is of 4 syllables.
- In the first stanza, the end word of the first line is ‘scrambled’. This word is reduced to ‘rambled in the second line and ‘bled’ in the third line.
- Similarly, the words ‘altogether’ and ‘spray’ are reduced in the second and third stanza.
Try writing a ‘Diminishing Verse’ and do share it with us.
To learn about more poetic forms and devices click here.
