LIST POEM

WHAT IS A LIST POEM?

Ever been to a grocery and forgotten what you mom had asked you to buy? Well here is a very fun way to remember the onions, potatoes and cereals. The List Poem was used by Greeks and in the Bible. It is typically a list or inventory of things that are not randomly written. Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself is a List poem as well and Whitman is known for excessive use of Lists in his poetry. List Poems usually have repetition to prove that it is the same thing we are talking about. The last item on the list is probably the most important or the funniest one.

EXAMPLE OF LIST POEMS:

THE GROCERY LIST

                                                 ~Avaanthikha Narayan

Onions are pink and can roll around

Potatoes are brownish and alas, I have found

That I hate Turnips a lot, they don’t taste good.

But Ladies Finger goes so well with food.

Oh and hey, I need to get cereal for eating, yum,

Let me also get bread and eat it crumb by crumb.

Did I forget something now? Ahh, yes, Peas!

And now let me have my way to the billing please!

The poem above is a List Poem based on a grocery list that should be bought. List poems are easy to remember not only grocery lists, but also simple formulae in Maths or Physics. Try using it to remember it on your exams and see how well it works out!!!

TIPS TO WRITE A LIST POEM:

1. Make sure that the items in the inventory are all related to each other and have a smooth flow. 

2. Make it funny or serious depending on the topic of your writing. Make it look like a poem and not a typical list where you give the number and list it out. 

3. Choose a title that is related to the list given and make sure that you use poetic devices. 

4. Rhyme is a very good idea to write a List poem

Now that the points about List poems have been listed out, go list out your List poem!!!

~Avaanthikha Narayan

Team PoeTree FoRest