Acrostic poetry, (perhaps traditionally) consists of a word or phrase written vertically, and then either words or sentences are written, starting with that letter, that have something to do with the word that was written vertically, as below:
~*~
A spelled – out word, or it
Could be some sort of phrase;
Really, anything–that
Over and through
Someone’s mind plays.
The poem doesn’t have to rhyme–
It’s really up to the poet–if for
Creativity they have the time, they can
Pick out rhymes, or decide to “stow it”.
Eventually a poem is written, traditional acrostic or not,
Maybe some think it’s the only way, but personally, I write them how I want!
© Stacey Uffelman 9-6-15
~*~
When it comes to poetry, there are times when I don’t think that I should be “stuck in a box”. So, while it’s not “traditional” and some may consider it “wrong” I often write acrostic poems by writing out a word or phrase vertically (some people out there may be familiar with my “Date Poem” series, which is an example of this) and writing things that just follow the letters–not necessarily having anything to do with the vertically-written word, as in the example below:
~*~
All, every one in the human race,
Christ did die for them; so that He might
Redeem them from the
Overwhelming cloak of
Sin.
To live in His way
Is hard sometimes, but He said, He’d
Carry me through, and He has
Proved so many times that He does what He says He’ll do.
Oh, Lord, help me to be
Everything that You want, and thank You that my past sins
May no longer my mind and heart haunt.
© Stacey Uffelman 9-6-15
~*~
In the second one, (when I’m writing a poem of this type) the words sometimes just “spill out” and sometimes it takes some thinking. It might even be a good writing excersise for abolishing writer’s block–just write out a word and then use each letter to write another word or phrase or whatever that can go along with it–whether you’re being serious or silly. 🙂