Read Mark 1:9-15

Choose six words related to baptism and use these words as a basis for a poem.

You can write a free form poem, or perhaps use the words to inspire a few haikus. (A haiku is a 3-line poem where the first line has five syllables, the second line has 7 syllables, and the third line has 5 syllables.)

If you love a poetic challenge, try writing a sestina. A sestina consists of six stanzas with six lines each and one final stanza of three lines.  The same six words serve as the final words in each line for every stanza–with the exception of the last stanza where each of the three lines contains two of the “end words.” The order of the end words in each six-line stanza is as follows: ABCDEF; FAEBDC; CFDABE; ECBFAD; DEACFB; BDFECA.This poetic form is challenging and will push you to consider your end words in fresh ways.

You can read an example of a sestina here. And my baptism sestina is here.