26 V 2003 - 23:46 - verba48

Much has happened.

I owe many people emails.

I still have five billion final projects.

And yet, I still find the time to whip up something for Alchera. Sometimes, I hate how much I procrastinate.

No gem, but:

Poem first, then options.

after catullus 11: a pair

They die in droves. Proud blossoms fall,
roots slackened by the heartless blade.
It does not slow. Each stroke a death,
a blow to plant fecundity.
They gasp, they droop, to save the thought:
My love for you did fall, just as
a bloom, once touched by plow-blade passed.

They rage at night. Each headstrong youth
believes the freshness of his pains.
They conjure slights. Their faithless eyes
catch other lovers, everywhere.
They shout, they curse, to wake the thought:
My love for you did fall, just as
a bloom, once touched by plow-blade passed.

options:

1) Describe something, using images that rely on only one sense.

2) Intertextuality can be described roughly as 'the relationship of different texts to one another.' Write a poem that relies on an earlier poem -- makes a nod to an image, a play on words, whatever.

3) Rhetorical devices are fun to play with. Among some you might consider using are hysteron proteron, anaphora, zeugma, prosopopoeia, synecdoche, or litotes. Explore these devices throughout your poem -- and if you don't remember what these are, try a search on Silva Rhetoricae.

4) Write from the point of view of a household object. Speak as the object; channel it. Both feel and be the fork (if, of course, that is how you've chosen.)

5) Write about where you live. The definition of that area can be as small as your room or as big as the planet (originally, I was going to say country, but then why stop there?) What makes said area special to you?