On the printed copy of this poem, mark up the right margin with details about what you notice about your poem. What choices did the author make?
A Hot Property
by Roland Wallace I am not. I am an also-ran, a bridesmaid, a finalist, a second-best bed. I am the one they could just as easily have given it to but didn't. I'm a near miss, a close second, an understudy, a runner-up. I'm the one who was just edged, shaded, bested, nosed out. I made the final cut, the short list, the long deliberation. I'm good, very good, but I'm not good enough. I'm an alternate, a backup, a very close decision, a red ribbon, a handshake, a glowing commendation. You don't know me. I've a dozen names, all honorably mentioned. I could be anybody. In your emulation, think about how you could describe an attribute of yours. |
Junkyards
by Julian Lee Rayford You take any junkyard and you will see it filled with symbols of progress remarkable things discarded What civilization when ahead on all its onward-impelling implements are given over to the junkyards to rust The supreme implement, the wheel is conspicuous in the junkyards The axles and the levers the cogs and the flywheels all the parts of dynamos all the parts of motors fall the parts of rusting. |