About Poetry – How to Write A Flamenca Poem

Flamenca Poems

The flamenca is a Spanish quintain (or 5-line stanza) form with a staccato rhythm meant to replicate the click of heels by flamenco dancers. The flamenca goes by a few other names, including seguidilla gitana (or Gypsy seguidilla), playera, and/or sequiriya.

Here are basic guidelines of the flamenca:

  • 5 lines
  • lines 1, 2, 4, and 5 have 6 syllables
  • line 3 has 5 syllables
  • lines 2 and 5 assonate*

*Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in words that are close together in a sentence or verse. For example, “His tender heir might bear his memory” (William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 1”). The “eh” sound in “tender,” “heir,” “bear,” and “memory” is an assonant sound.*

Variation: Lines 3 and 4 may be combined to make an 11-syllable line and quatrain (or 4-line) stanza.

Also, here’s a video of a poem titled “Tightrope: A Flamenca Poem” to help get you in the mood.

©🦊RobertLeeBrewer

©📸HenkKonijinenburg