Assignment 3

For Homework:
Come up with your own form of poetry. Create your own set of rules that your poetry format must follow. Consider the following:
alliteration
assonance
meter
rhyme scheme
syllabification
topic
number/order of lines, stanzas, etc.
anything else we've talked about with poetry.

Next, write a minimum of three poems in your format. Try to tie them together thematically in some way.

Last, bring in the rules you've created to class. Now, try your hand at the rules of at least two other students and let them try yours, too.

Assignment 2

The History of an Object

Choose something you have in your home. This can be an item of great personal value or an everyday object you rarely think about. Study the object. Write your ideas for 5 minutes straight. Don't worry about telling a story or making sense. Any thoughts, lists, or observations will do, as long as they revolve around the object.

Now tell the history of the object. You may list different events in the "life" of the object, whether you know them to be true or not. If you want to take a conventional angle and simply write about it, go ahead. If you want to personify and write from the first person, that's okay, too.

What's important here is that you focus on the sound of your words. Be sure to include at least one example of each of the following: assonance, alliteration, rhyme, and repetition. The format is up to you.

Poem 3

When I am dead, my dearest,
You best be coming with me.
I've no time to lounge upon a cloud
To watch you cry and miss me.

You're already late, my dearest,
But then, you always were--
Taking minutes to put your shoes on
Never quite on your way out the door.

No one else may be your dearest, dearest,
You may not talk to anyone
Or meet, or sleep with, or see other people.
No work, no play, no fun.

So just stop your heart or shut down your brain,
And come join me wherever as soon as you can.

Assignment 1

Bring an item to class tomorrow. Make sure it is something important to you, but will be recognizable to others.

Next Day:
Find a partner and switch items. Take 5 minutes just to study the item. Jot down notes. Be sure to write down any memories or particular things this object reminds you of from your own life. Don't worry about what it means to the person who brought it.

Write a poem based on this object. Don't use any particular rhythm or rhyme scheme, but include at least 3 metaphors or similes. Also include at least one of your own personal memories as well as one made up or that you imagine belongs to the person who brought the item.

Share the poems with your partner and then tell your partner about the object you brought in.

Further:
Now that you know all about your partner's object for real, what would you change about your poem?

Poem 2

Freehold was the first that I remember
but the third overall

Maplewood the star of origin
then somewhere then Marlboro

Clive I picked out houses with my parents
because my grandma couldn't handle me home
to fight with my sister and brother

Austin greeted me with warmth in November
and dusted a goodbye only ten months later

Denton and Comfort drifted through my late teens

Barcelona and Prague
finally I decided where to go
like playing darts in a blindfold

Poem 1

It was the only time
my mother
gave in to my tantrum
thrashing on the dressing room floor

I wore it with pride:
satin stars of turquoise and cyan
on a background blacker than the night sky
those other kids will ooh and ahh

Let's walk in the creek bank
my sister
said after church, where I was right--
they did ooh and ahh

We'll find the Ninja Turtles she said
and they will ask us to fight,
save the world
which I really wanted to do

I want to go too
my brother
trailed behind and slipped and sloshed
and clawed at the tree roots, but alas

Into the drink went he and I
the electric eels, they'll get us
no
Raphael won't let that happen

When we returned, clay-covered and mangy
my father
was waiting for us, for an answer
why would you ruin the night sky?