Snail subsisting
in solitary
travel trailer
inhales oily hair.
Magenta imagination
strikes a stuttering sibilance.
This journey is
long,
lingering,
loneliness.
.
.
A poem crafted in a workshop with Gary Gottfriedson at Word on the Lake 2013. (Having a great time! Wish you were here!)
The brief: 10 lines with rich imagery; include senses, an amazing verb, and a colour; avoid clichés.
I dream of easy affection
when I can celebrate you
without you analyzing my motives
and finding me lacking.
I dream of easy affection
when I can trust you
not to rip apart my offerings
with cruel and callous doubts.
I dream of easy affection
when you can happily accept
tthe best I had whether or not it
was good enough for you.
I dream of easy affection
but some days it seems
like my hopes bring me
a lot of pain
for nothing.
.
.
Sometimes it is so much easier to close up the heart, when you are constantly misunderstood, rejected, and ignored by those who should love and respect you.
It’s not truth,
but danger.
Not what is real,
but what’s perceived.
The excluding
exclamations
of laughter
contrasted by
bored eye brows
and sighs.
An amused knife
slicing through
her security.
© Shawn L. Bird
————————————————–
Being a free verse, there is no strict rhyme or rhythm pattern in this one, but you’ll see lots of examples here of consonance, assonance, and alliteration. Notice in particular the pattern of growling of the /r/s, the explosive /ex/s and the sighing /s/s which reflect the narrative persona’s emotional experience.
There is a circle pattern with the 6 sections (not quite stanzas, not being separated) being strongly consonant /r/, then assonant /e/, then alliterative /ex/, and then reversing: alliterative /b/, assonant /i/, and finally consonant /r/ again. How does this pattern reflect the persona’s emotional state?
You are welcome to use this poem in your class room, crediting the author. I’d also be pleased to see a comment indicating where and when you did. Thanks.
There is an empty place
where there should be your face
Be happy where you are
though it is much too far
Away, my love. from my embrace
Return.
I long to kiss your face.
Shawn L. Bird 