Posted: December 9th, 2021

Poem experience

Write a poem that describes an inanimate object using unexpected imagery (like, say, Farnoosh Fathi’s “Banana,” which uses the fruit as a jumping off point to meditate on language, on people, and the way we relate to one another—I think! But who is speaking? A banana? A person looking at a banana? Could one speaker be both things?). （see attached file）

In your own poem must:

1. Include a line from folk song / nursery rhyme—something familiar that most people would recognize.
2. Include a reference to an inside joke—something only your best friend would understand
3. Include at least one word that was new to you in reading Fathi’s book (she uses a number of esoteric words).
4. Include a metaphor with the following structure: “the (adjective) (noun) of (noun)” [try to come up with something unexpected: “the stucco shadow of wind through trees” or “the glassine silence of torn umbrellas” instead of “the crystal pools of your eyes” or “the intoxicating aroma of coffee.”]
5. Include a moment where the tone shifts dramatically to an exclamation — surprise the reader.
6. Be descriptive, use vivid imagery that includes color and other adjectives.

Here’s the big trick: try not to end-stop any of the lines, but instead to have every thought continue into the next line. 

No centered poems, please.

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