There are many great poems that use a five line stanza, often called a Quintet, or Quintain poetry. It can be any five line stanza poem of any meter or line length and is often mis-used because of its alleged simplicity. But a Quintain can be quiet dramatic and beautiful, as when two lovers use it to converse in a Tanka or Cinquain, or when combined as a series of poems.

The Cinquain is a very popular Quintain form. Originally it was a very casual French form where the lines could be of any length, and the form could have either any rhyme scheme, or none whatsoever. Now, however, when anyone refers to a Cinquain, they usually mean the form set out by Adelaide Crapsey. This form still consists of five lines, but with a specific syllable count for each line: 2, 4, 6, 8, 2. Additionally, the lines are usually iambic, where the stresses fall on every other syllable. The following example, by Ryter Roethicle, might explain it better:

First two
And two make four
And two to four is six
And two and two to four is eight
The end

Many poets have written Cinquains as a sequential series of unlinked poems. A variation of this is the Cinquain Chain, where the stanzas are linked by using the last line of the first stanza as the first line of the next, and the final stanza linking the last line back to the first line of the first stanza. Lori Martin's Sunshine is a good example:

sunshine
warm on my face
tilted to catch spring breeze
refreshing, uplifting after
winter

winter
ice drapes on roofs
frigid air, frozen breath
car won't start, cloaked people scurry
cranky

cranky
suffocating
winter's chill seizes heart
seasonal depression's cure is
sunshine

The are many other forms of Quintains, as well as other forms of Cinquains. But for now let's stay with the syllable-counted Cinquain. If the tribe goes well and the interest is there, we might later expand it to include some of these other forms. In the meantime, feel free to start your own standalone cinquains, encircling chains, or tribal-themed chains (eg, on love, sex, women's rights, friendship, relationships, bdsm... whatever)! Wax poetically!

Oh, and by the way, each and every member is expected to make at least one contribution at some point in time... you should try your hand at the "new members cinquain..." thread! And, feel free to invite other members if you think they'll fit in here! ...thom

http://tribes.tribe.net/quintains