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Regular news and insight from our many poets, writers, educators and facilitators

30 September 2023

Posted by Robyn O'Mahony

Acrostic Poetry and Flash Fiction

Autumn term week two: acrostic poetry and flash fiction



After a great first week back for Mayflower Junior and Young Writers, week two saw us take a deep dive into our creativity to produce poems and short pieces of prose.

As we settle into the community, and familiarise ourselves with one another, we’re embracing word games to share little trinkets of information about who we are with the group. This week, it took the form of two truths and a lie, and we encouraged our Junior and Young Writers to go big and bold with their facts and fiction. We found that the game got our creative juices flowing, and eased us into the creative writing activities ahead.


Both writing groups tackled writing within parameters this week. For our Juniors, we tasked them with writing an acrostic poem based on one of their peers. The group broke off into pairs and got to know each other, and then used what they found as inspiration for a poem. The results were joyful and diverse, with a stand-out line bringing smiles to all our faces: ‘eyes the colour of hazelnut ice cream’. The kindness of this young community was emanating through words and it’s clear to see the individual writing styles and voices of the group coming through.


When we welcomed our Young Writers, we tasked them with turning their two truths and a lie into a piece of flash fiction. This was a task in using personal experiences to write fiction – storytelling inspired by reality. Together, we learned that fact is often stranger than its counterpart! And the results were, as always, dazzling, including, ‘The walls wheezed with her in sympathy’.


To finish the session, we shared lyrics from songs and used these as a starting point for writing poems. As an additional aid, we passed around vocabulary flashcards and told the group that all of these words must be included in their pieces. The community really leaned into writing within parameters, while also flexing their creative muscles.


As we head into week three, we will leave you with this curious creation: ‘Her grandmother would rather tango with the children at nursery’.

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