Cinquains
Cinquains on the Perfect Fifth
Stylized orange and black abstract illustration featuring geometric shapes and layered textures forming a fragmented face and interior objects against a dark background.
Theognetus the Thessalian

(“in the style of”)

Fifth
Clear law
Measured between friends,
Too wide to merge, too close to break—
Order.

Illustration of a woman in profile wearing a dark patterned veil, surrounded by a radiant golden halo and dotted light against a warm yellow background.
Hildegard von Bingen

(“in the style of”)

Fifth
Luminous, vowed
Breathing, binding, blessing
Freen fire of order praise
Amen

Black-and-white portrait illustration of a woman in profile wearing a wide-brimmed hat with ribbon detail, rendered in an etched, vintage style against a muted peach background.
Adelaide Crapsey

(“in the style of”)

Pure fifth
Two notes align
Across the quiet scale
Ratio sings, three into two pure
Home found

Poetic illustration of two silhouetted human profiles formed from a flurry of blue-green leaves blowing apart in opposite directions, with a bare tree and small figures beneath on a yellow background.
Olive

(an original cinquain)

Fifth
3-2 ratio
2 parts gin, 3 olives
Or one tonic, five dominant
Perfect

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