The teacher assigned us to write these poems with the last words from each line given to us. The class was forced to think “inside” the box. It was harder for me to write these because I didn’t have the freedom to choose where the poem was going, but had to make something fit inside the mold given. The only leeway was that we could change ONE ending word. It was fun to hear the totally different responses that everyone came up with. These are the two I turned in.
My life is always quiet
Only the sun to kiss
My feelings without riot
Down here in my abyss
This place with no trees
But rather sand dunes
Here, lovely sweet peas
Would cringe into prunes
Crows caw clear as crystal
Death one cannot bar
You need no aid from a pistol
Just music from a guitar
Loneliness and emptiness always brooded
Without love, “Thump”, life’s concluded
The neighborhood lay quiet
‘Til my dad saw us kiss
That’s how began the riot
To mine and Mikes amiss
From beneath every tree
That afternoon in June
Came baby sweet pea
And the ol’ neighborhood prune
My explanation wasn’t quite crystal
Mike sang in a honky-tonk bar
Father grabbed for his pistol
My boyfriend for his guitar
So off to my corner I brooded
Until the argument concluded
Only the sun to kiss
My feelings without riot
Down here in my abyss
This place with no trees
But rather sand dunes
Here, lovely sweet peas
Would cringe into prunes
Crows caw clear as crystal
Death one cannot bar
You need no aid from a pistol
Just music from a guitar
Loneliness and emptiness always brooded
Without love, “Thump”, life’s concluded
The neighborhood lay quiet
‘Til my dad saw us kiss
That’s how began the riot
To mine and Mikes amiss
From beneath every tree
That afternoon in June
Came baby sweet pea
And the ol’ neighborhood prune
My explanation wasn’t quite crystal
Mike sang in a honky-tonk bar
Father grabbed for his pistol
My boyfriend for his guitar
So off to my corner I brooded
Until the argument concluded