For #TankaTuesday this week, I asked everyone to write an acrostic poem with 8, 9, or 10 syllables per line—or a mixture of the counts, using one of the following words:
MAGICAL
CHARM
SPECTER
FANTASY
CONJURE
UNICORN
IMAGINATION
ORACLE
MALEVOLENCE
I chose the word: 🦄 UNICORN 🦄
My syllable count is 10-9-9-9-9-9-10. It’s a nice combination of syllables. It’s definitely a unicorn!
Even on the darkest nights, by star shine, we can create unicorn poetry…
Unarticulated thoughts circulate Numerable ideas surface Imagination soars to new heights Creativity unlocks closed doors Opinions voiced from the Oracle Recreations of the magical Necessary part of the fantasy
An avid reader, Colleen M. Chesebro rekindled her love of writing poetry after years spent working in the accounting industry. These days, she loves crafting syllabic poetry, flash fiction, and creative fiction and nonfiction.
In addition to poetry books, Chesebro’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of her writing community on Word Craft Poetry.com by organizing and sponsoring a weekly syllabic poetry challenge, called #TankaTuesday, where participants experiment with traditional and current forms of Japanese and American syllabic poetry.
Chesebro is an assistant editor of The Congress of the Rough Writers Flash Fiction Anthology & Gitty Up Press, a micro-press founded by Charli Mills and Carrot Ranch.
In January 2022, Colleen founded Unicorn Cats Publishing Services to assist poets and authors in creating eBooks and print books for publication. In addition, she creates affordable book covers for Kindle and print books.
Chesebro lives in the house of her dreams in mid-Michigan surrounded by the Great Lakes with her husband and two (unicorn) cats, Chloe & Sophie.
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54 thoughts on “Birthing a Unicorn, Syllabic Acrostic”
Oh, how wonderfully whimsical and wildly captivating! A true tribute to the majestic mythological creature that ignites our imaginations and delights our souls. Each line seems to sprout wings, carrying us on a celestial flight through enchanted lands. The acrostic format lends itself perfectly to evoking the essence of a mystical creature that entices and eludes us, leaving behind echoes of its magic and mystery. Bravo on creating a spellbinding work of poetry, one that pays homage to the ethereal spirit of unicorns and awakens the inner child within us all! Keep riding the rainbow trail of creativity and let your imagination run free like the wind! 🦄💫✨👍👏👌😊
Pankaj, you say the nicest things. Thanks so much. The truth is I struggled to write today, so your words make me feel so much better. Thanks a bunch! 🦄🥳
You’re most welcome. Writing comes in waves – some days might flow like a stream while others might seem stagnant. Keep plowing forward as each written word contains immense potential waiting to inspire change, reflection, and joy. Allow me to offer some digital sunshine and warmth in the form of encouragement. 😊🙏
You can’t tell by the result that it was a struggle. It’s so hard to balance everything that tugs at us. I’m finding it very hard at the moment as well. (K)
Thank you, Kerfe. I’ve had a hard time publishing on WP this week. I know they did updates again. It seems to be constant. It’s hard to write when the technical parts don’t work. (like my brain). LOL.
Jane has been having problems too. I know they keep changing the way you write your posts which is irritating in itself. And they still haven’t solved the formatting problems, which have been constant since they started with the blocks. Last year (or was it the year before? time is nebulous) I had a few months where nothing worked. I guess they like to spread it around…
I’ve noticed many classical poems are written in 8, 9 or 10 syllable lines. It made sense to give this a try. I like it, too. The syllables help to curb “sentences.” I think phrases are more engaging when writing poetry. Not always, but most of the time. It gives the reader time to think about the meaning. Many thanks, Lauren. 💜
I’ll have to give it a try. I wrote a double acrostic from one of your other posts which I’ll share soon and will link your blog. You’re so welcome, Colleen! 💞
I had to switch back to the Edin theme, Franci. It is pretty bare bones. Also, I read an article that said WP wants to discontinue the majority of classic default themes that were named after a particular year: https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/05/16/proposal-retiring-older-default-themes/. I still think the aim is to go to FSE themes and retire the classic themes. I really dislike the FSE themes, visually. I tried some of the block themes (hybrid themes) but they are difficult to read. At least for me. I’ve only tried on my Unicorn Cats site which is only on the personal plan. No CSS. I’ve tried, Chrome, Vivaldi, Firefox, & Safari. Each one of them freezes or slow types in WP. They are constantly updating and it throws everything off. I don’t know to do anymore. Interesting article. WP is definitely moving toward FSE. The old themes clog the servers I think.
Exactly! I ended up back with the Libre theme. I tried an FSE theme. I can’t figure out how to get the menu to show up. And, such a limited choice of colors. Why do we all have to look identical? Safari quit working today on WP! I’m back on Vivaldi. 🤦🏼♀️ I feel your pain!
I tried an FSE theme again and what a mess. Nothing lined up right and I gave up. Some of the comments I read in those WP articles voiced the same frustrations.
And what bothers me is that they are looking to start retiring some of the older classic themes. WP needs to get this fixed. The fact that you have to reconstruct your blog with a menu and everything is a huge red flag to me! I tried a premium theme that gave me less choices in color, etc. than the classic themes. Why would we change? The entire FSE/block themes have been a debacle! I love the Edin theme if I could get the background dark. I’m frustrated too.
I agree it is a huge mess. It may be easier for those that are not trying to move a blog. I love the Edin theme, as well, and wish it had a dark background. You can’t fix it with css?
Creativity and fantasy is a magical combination for composing a poem and this one exemplifies it so well! Unicorn adds another dimension! I admire your thoughts Colleen.
The glitches are the worst I’ve ever seen. I think Mac has had some updates as well that don’t sit well with WP. I’m going to try one of the FSE themes. I don’t believe the classic themes are being taken care of. After all, this is where we’re headed with WP-the block themes. I’ll see if that makes things easier. Many other bloggers are having issues too. Browsers aren’t working like they used to either.
This is sad to hear! I haven’s had any issues other than the pingbacks, and that seems to be fine now. I don’t want the responsibility of coding and all that. I self-hosted for a year and gave up. Too much work, then my site started crashing.
Colleen M. Chesebro 
Beautiful 👍🏼
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Thanks so much, Sadie. I see my comments aren’t coming through again! 🤦🏼♀️
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You’re most welcome. I’m getting your comments, but sometimes the WP decides to not show them. 🥲
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Same here. I have to go the post itself. It’s been crazy!
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What’s WP without driving us nuts once every few days.
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It keeps freezing when I try to publish, too. It’s been a real adventure!
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Oh no! I’m sorry.
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“Necessary part of the fantasy”… for sure…
lovely, Colleen🤍
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Thanks, Destiny. I love fantasy stories and poetry.
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myself 😁
my pleasure 🤍
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“Creativity unlocks closed doors”
Definitely! 😊
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It was like pulling teeth to write today. I’ve had so much going on. My creativity is on vacation!
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Well, hopefully it will return refreshed! 😊
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I’ll write some more poetry tomorrow. I missed all the dVerse prompts and they were great!
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😊
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I love it, Colleen! Creativity always unlocks closed doors! 🙂
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
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Thank you, Yvi. My brain didn’t want to work! LOL!
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Oh, how wonderfully whimsical and wildly captivating! A true tribute to the majestic mythological creature that ignites our imaginations and delights our souls. Each line seems to sprout wings, carrying us on a celestial flight through enchanted lands. The acrostic format lends itself perfectly to evoking the essence of a mystical creature that entices and eludes us, leaving behind echoes of its magic and mystery. Bravo on creating a spellbinding work of poetry, one that pays homage to the ethereal spirit of unicorns and awakens the inner child within us all! Keep riding the rainbow trail of creativity and let your imagination run free like the wind! 🦄💫✨👍👏👌😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pankaj, you say the nicest things. Thanks so much. The truth is I struggled to write today, so your words make me feel so much better. Thanks a bunch! 🦄🥳
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re most welcome. Writing comes in waves – some days might flow like a stream while others might seem stagnant. Keep plowing forward as each written word contains immense potential waiting to inspire change, reflection, and joy. Allow me to offer some digital sunshine and warmth in the form of encouragement. 😊🙏
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much! I appreciate your good thoughts.
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Being a Unicorn! ❤
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YUP! Be you… everyone’s a unicorn in my book! 💟
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This was lovely, Colleen, and clever, too. I’ve been struggling to weave words together, too. But reading this felt like a little dose of magic.
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Thanks so much, Smitha. I’ve just been busy. Next week will be much better. ❤️
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You can’t tell by the result that it was a struggle. It’s so hard to balance everything that tugs at us. I’m finding it very hard at the moment as well. (K)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Kerfe. I’ve had a hard time publishing on WP this week. I know they did updates again. It seems to be constant. It’s hard to write when the technical parts don’t work. (like my brain). LOL.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jane has been having problems too. I know they keep changing the way you write your posts which is irritating in itself. And they still haven’t solved the formatting problems, which have been constant since they started with the blocks. Last year (or was it the year before? time is nebulous) I had a few months where nothing worked. I guess they like to spread it around…
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This is beautiful, Colleen, and I like the syllable addition to the acrostic. ❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve noticed many classical poems are written in 8, 9 or 10 syllable lines. It made sense to give this a try. I like it, too. The syllables help to curb “sentences.” I think phrases are more engaging when writing poetry. Not always, but most of the time. It gives the reader time to think about the meaning. Many thanks, Lauren. 💜
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll have to give it a try. I wrote a double acrostic from one of your other posts which I’ll share soon and will link your blog. You’re so welcome, Colleen! 💞
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Wonderful! I look forward to your poem. 💟
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Fair warning though, Colleen, it’s a little sad. 💙
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Beautiful and whimsical, Colleen! WordPress is driving me crazy! It freezes and gets stuck when I try to publish!
I read an interesting article – link below. Let me know what you think about it.
https://wptavern.com/wordpress-6-2-core-performance-analysis-finds-improving-template-loading-for-classic-themes-could-make-a-major-impact
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I had to switch back to the Edin theme, Franci. It is pretty bare bones. Also, I read an article that said WP wants to discontinue the majority of classic default themes that were named after a particular year: https://make.wordpress.org/core/2023/05/16/proposal-retiring-older-default-themes/. I still think the aim is to go to FSE themes and retire the classic themes. I really dislike the FSE themes, visually. I tried some of the block themes (hybrid themes) but they are difficult to read. At least for me. I’ve only tried on my Unicorn Cats site which is only on the personal plan. No CSS. I’ve tried, Chrome, Vivaldi, Firefox, & Safari. Each one of them freezes or slow types in WP. They are constantly updating and it throws everything off. I don’t know to do anymore. Interesting article. WP is definitely moving toward FSE. The old themes clog the servers I think.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s so frustrating! It takes me longer to deal with the glitches than it does to write a poem. Yikes!
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Exactly! I ended up back with the Libre theme. I tried an FSE theme. I can’t figure out how to get the menu to show up. And, such a limited choice of colors. Why do we all have to look identical? Safari quit working today on WP! I’m back on Vivaldi. 🤦🏼♀️ I feel your pain!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I tried an FSE theme again and what a mess. Nothing lined up right and I gave up. Some of the comments I read in those WP articles voiced the same frustrations.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And what bothers me is that they are looking to start retiring some of the older classic themes. WP needs to get this fixed. The fact that you have to reconstruct your blog with a menu and everything is a huge red flag to me! I tried a premium theme that gave me less choices in color, etc. than the classic themes. Why would we change? The entire FSE/block themes have been a debacle! I love the Edin theme if I could get the background dark. I’m frustrated too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree it is a huge mess. It may be easier for those that are not trying to move a blog. I love the Edin theme, as well, and wish it had a dark background. You can’t fix it with css?
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No. I’ve not been able to find the CSS code to fix the background. Let me know if you stumble across the code. 💜
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Creativity and fantasy is a magical combination for composing a poem and this one exemplifies it so well! Unicorn adds another dimension! I admire your thoughts Colleen.
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Thanks so much, Balroop. I love the unicorn mythology. It always brings a smile. 🦄
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Just captivating Colleen ❤️
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You’ve created a magical beast indeed, Colleen!
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The magic of a unicorn I believe, is all in the creativity of the fantasy. 🦄
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Beautiful, Colleen! Hope WordPress can corral those unicorn glitches.
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The glitches are the worst I’ve ever seen. I think Mac has had some updates as well that don’t sit well with WP. I’m going to try one of the FSE themes. I don’t believe the classic themes are being taken care of. After all, this is where we’re headed with WP-the block themes. I’ll see if that makes things easier. Many other bloggers are having issues too. Browsers aren’t working like they used to either.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is sad to hear! I haven’s had any issues other than the pingbacks, and that seems to be fine now. I don’t want the responsibility of coding and all that. I self-hosted for a year and gave up. Too much work, then my site started crashing.
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Yes, I had the same issue with the WordPress business plan. The pretty themes we used to have are going away quickly. Soon we will all look alike.
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You can find unicons everywhere! At Rita’s (Italian ices and custard treats) they have chocolate, rainbow and unicorn sprinkles!
Lovely acrostic. Imagination is a useful tool free to everyone! 💜💜💜
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Very nice, Colleen.
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Great fun, Robbie. 🦄
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