Collaborative Learning Activity: Poetry Writing
Here is mine, slightly edited from the first draft written on Feb 4 evening.
Objects of Interest
A friendship in Beijing
Solidified by a dark green jade cat
“An exotic city,” R professed
Her love for that Forbidden City
Swiftly the gemstone transported me to my unspoken grief
“The first one was damaged
The second one stolen”
So a third ring her mother offered
A sparkling aquamarine set in silver
A symbol of T’s childhood in Japan
Where has this bottle roamed
Whose lips have pursed against this rim
A chipped whiskey bottle top
Plucked from the grounds of Rappahannock Station
A decade and a half in L’s keeping
A brown seagull’s feather
From the shores of a Polly Island Beach
She recalled the loudness of the placidity
Life had become too big and clamorous
The ocean could swallow H
Like a hushed hiccup no one knows
Everything will be okay
Soft crystal clear peals
Of a miniature brass bell
With claws and etched with flowers
A gem found at Paul’s Place of timeworn treasures
A renewed friendship from M’s years in graduate school
I unveiled my dad’s prosperity-red macrame knot
Don’t weep, I will be brave
“My dad used it as a key-holder”
Words slow and deliberate, I uttered
Him who I can no longer hold
His effects, his assets, my objects of affection
2 Comments
Randy Marshall
Nice photo! I like where the poem is going as well. I really enjoyed how the bits of stories are attributed to the human beings who uttered them. There is power in such naming.
ywbkreher@gmail.com
Thanks, Randy. The poem still needs revision. Some lines are awkward. But at this point, it captures the gist of what I am trying to convey.