Poetic Adventures Week 7: The Hermit Crab

We are exploring one form of the Hermit Crab this week

Hello Readers,

Some weeks are just overwhelming! I have been jumping from one task to another. My focus has been pulled apart in different directions. However, I’m here with a fun, interesting and challenging adventure, though I shall keep the newsletter short.

THE HERMIT CRAB POEM

This week, we are working on the Hermit Crab Poem. What is it, you ask? A hermit crab poem is a type of poem (or more broadly, a piece of creative writing) that takes on the structure of something else—just like a hermit crab moves into an empty shell for protection. Instead of following a traditional poetic form, a hermit crab poem borrows the shape or format of something non-poetic, such as:

• A recipe

• A letter

• A list

• A dictionary entry

• A news article

• A set of instructions

• A social media post

By using an unexpected structure, hermit crab poems can create deeper emotional impact or new ways of seeing a subject. The borrowed form becomes a kind of “shell” for the poem’s meaning, just like a hermit crab’s shell provides a home.

When I first researched the hermit crab poems, I realised it was a big world out there. Writing a letter in the form of a letter is called an epistolary poem. Recipe poems are another rage. But, the dictionary poem is what got to me. Here is an example of a dictionary poem, Lohren Green’s Poetical Dictionary. The poem has a metaphysical quality to it.

---

Here is another example. I love how the poet has used actual definitions of the word but brought everything back to the narrative she wants to deliver through the poem.

---

PROMPT OF THE WEEK:

Write a poem in the form of a dictionary entry. Take a dictionary and see how entries are structured. Start with a word. Think of words with alternate meanings. Freewrite, maybe for 10 mins, listing as many different ways as you can, about the word. Use the list as the base of your poem and work it up from there. While writing the poem, think of why you chose this particular word. How does this form help the narrative or story you want to tell the reader?

---

<this part has been edited from the original newsletter>

Here is my attempt for the week. It is still a work in progress, and I think there are a lot more things I can do with it, but here is the first draft.

bully /ˈbʊli/ [current definition]

Origin: mid 16th century: probably from Middle Dutch boele ‘lover’. Original use was as a term of endearment akin to ‘sweatheart’ applied to either sex; it later became a familiar form of address to a male friend. Its use then became more general, coming to mean ‘fine fellow’, and, eventually, the opposite: ‘swaggering coward’ in the late 17th. 

noun. 1 the most popular kid in my son’s class who decides who can be friends with whom and for how long. 2 a leader who is mighty and proves that ‘might is right’, and sets an example to the world that if you have more strength and power, then courtesy is overrated 3 boys who rag other boys as a gesture of friendship.4 a person you vote for as he has promised to bully others more than he bullies you, who will squish you if you don’t lift him over your head. 5 a boy who I advice my son to be friends with in public, even if he hates him in secret, a frenemy.

---

Happy Writing,

Namratha