Poem 16

Number 16

There are certain words in the English language that sound just plain ugly to me. Fork is one. Chunky. Oyster. I am sure that you have your own pet peeves when it comes to the way words sound. We also hold negative associations with words that have hurt us or that we link with unpleasant experiences. Wound. Pig. Stupid.

Today, I will ask you to take one of your “ugly” words and transform it into something beautiful. There are several ways to approach this.

Option One
Write an ode to a word/thing you find abhorrent. Find its beauty somewhere and praise it. If Pablo Neruda can make socks sounds wonderful, you can do that for a fork. Or whatever your word is.

Option Two
Make a long list of words you do not like. Then use all/some of them in a poem about someone or something or some place that you love.

Option Three
Make a list of words that sound beautiful to you. Undulate. Cocoon. Superfluous. Fluid. Using this list of lovely words, write about something ugly or unpleasant. Make the vile beautiful.

Here there are ghosts

               Graves mostly

Long buried

Not forgotten

      Letters and photos and...

It's just another shoebox

      Another piece of faded memory

Bits of time and faith

Pieces of a life

Buried in a cardboard sepulcher

      Covered in colored construction paper

      Magic marker and

                              (Not quite symmetrical)

Faded

Pink paper hearts

It's all the goodbye an 8 year old can muster

We visit here every other Sunday 

I try to forget

And he makes me remember

I am covered in loss

He is illuminated in memories

We both cry

For different reasons