Words for Autumn Poems or Stories

For those who want a semantic mapping of all words related to autumn, either for your poem or a blog post or a story, I share with you my Wordle, i.e. Word Cloud!

I took some time to collate a couple words related to Autumn that might inspire you to write something about this season. What I’ve learnt from my Creative Writing classes is that semantic mapping can help create a bigger picture of something without necessarily saying the word.

As humans, we have created huge word banks in our minds with multiple connections in between them. Therefore, if I just say “pumpkin” you might think of “Autumn” even though pumpkins may not naturally connote the meaning of Autumn. This is similar for any of the words I present in the picture above.

So go ahead and feel free to use and share this around. Plus, it’s a bonus that Wordle happened to shape it to look a bit like a leaf. 🙂

Till next time,

Cumuloq ❤

 

The Cat Poetry Series: Part 2, The Farmhouse

Welcome to the second installment of my halloween special series for this blog!

What I have done is I’ve taken a very old library book from when I was a child. I think I bought the book for a few dollars from my school library when they were selling out old books. I’ve taken the first page of each chapter and crossed out words so that the words that are left make a poem. Alongside each poem, I’ll share with you the page that I’ve taken and the actual crossing out that I’ve done.

The Farmhouse

we normally live
in a high-rise building
there.
Now, there was a terrible move
had to go
coming here.
“farm” – the very word
What would they be without
you.

– cumuloq ❤

Related articles

• The Cat Poetry Series: Part 1, A Life or Death Problem (cumuloquoise.wordpress.com)

The Cat Poetry Series: Part 1, A Life or Death Problem

I think I mentioned it before last week that I’ll be starting a new series of poetry this month for Halloween. So let me introduce to you “The Cat Poetry Series”. What I have done is I’ve taken a very old library book from when I was a child. I think I bought the book for a few dollars from my school library when they were selling out old books. I’ve taken the first page of each chapter and crossed out words so that the words that are left make a poem. Alongside each poem, I’ll share with you the page that I’ve taken and the actual crossing out that I’ve done.

Below is the first installment, or first chapter (what have you), of the series:

A Life or Death Problem

he’ll hang around.
he’ll never leave.
That’s what has happened.
Bleeker
a tall man
a thin face
the tone of his voice you would
think he was back home
sitting up in the
black judge’s chair
looking down
on the grass in front of the porch
he was dressed
a loose shirt, and
a towel over his shoulder

– cumuloq ❤

words that move

instead of writing a poem today, i thought i’d share some of my favourite words that ‘move’. and by ‘move’ i mean that they contain, within their own sounds, the kinaesthetic image of their meaning. no, they are not an onomatopoeic but i think they’re beautiful sounding words that, i feel, i should use more:

1. percolating, as in “the coffee is percolating” or in a more unusual phrase “watch as the world percolates”. the word itself contains a very similar image to the process of something passing through a filter, brewing and foaming up. say it slowly with your tongue, you can feel that you build up air during the ‘er’ sound which is then forcefully released with the ‘c’ at the back of your mouth. this emphasis resembles a bubble popping and, overall, makes for a very satisfying-sounding word.

2. chunky, as in “chunky peanut butter” or in a more unusual phrase “a chunky eight-year-old old”. it’s a simple one, but it’s been one of my favourite words for a very long time. probably the first image that strikes me when i hear it is chunky tomatoes. i’m not too sure why. ‘chunky’ once more resembles its meaning. the ‘ch’ at the beginning of the word is a diphthong, involving both friction and plosive within the mouth when you say it. this makes for a very heavy sound the instant you hear the word. it also involves the use of the ‘k’ sound once more. this makes the word even more interesting, as it does not only emphasize the size of the word but also the satisfying sound it makes. lastly, it ends with a ‘y’ which just makes it so much more cuter and adorable.

3. effervesce, as in “she effervesced with pride” or “the water began to effervesce”. this one is a little like the first word, but at the same time, creates a completely different effect in terms of sounds from the first two. unlike the first two, that create stops within the mouth, effervesce is unique as it is made up of a number of fricative sounds, in contrast, the labiodental voiced and voiceless fricatives ‘f’ and ‘v’. like the word, this means that you have a friction between your upper teeth and lower lip that can be likened to generating small bubbles, similar to the meaning of the word.

so today, these are the three words that mimic, in the most subtlest ways, their meanings. so go ahead and experiment with them in sentences and poems. 🙂

till next time!

cumuloq ❤