Frequently Asked Questions that no one has asked
What is an Elfchen? An Elfchen is a German poetic form consisting of 11 words written in 5 lines. The number of words per line is defined in this pattern: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 1.
Who is writing these poems? We are usually three friends (Fra, Fabi, and AJ), with occassional poetic input from the extended friend group.
How do you write one poem with 3+ people? You know that game where you draw a head, then the next person draws the neck, the next the body, and so on? It's like that! Everyone gets a piece of paper and writes the first line. The papers are passed to the next person, who writes the second line and folds over the previous line before passing it to the next person. This continues until the poem is finished (so you never know more than the previous line while writing your line). The papers get passed around once more, unfolded, and a title gets added and voilà! An Elfchen has emerged!
How does this method always yield such great poems? It doesn't! Sometimes the poems make no sense and the grammar is all over the place. These poems shall stay hidden in the box of curses or be tagged "nonsense" if they are unleashed :)
Why are some titles formatted differently? Titles will always be bold. However, if they are not larger than the rest of the poem, and there is no space between the title and the first line, the title and first line are part of one sentence and should be read fluidly together.
Why do some poems not follow the Elfchen structure? These are poems we call reversechen! The order of the lines is (as the name implies) in reverse. A new and revolutionary form of poetry born out of boredom.