Additional+Prompts+and+Poems

Assignment A:

Slant by Stephen Dunn code Yesterday, for a long while, the early morning sunlight in the trees was sufficient, replaced by a hello from a long-limbed woman pedaling her bike, whereupon the wind came up, dispersing the mosquitoes. Blessings, all. I'd come so far, it seemed, happily looking for so little.

But then I saw a cow in a room looking at the painting of a cow in a field -- all of which was a painting itself -- and I felt I'd been invited into the actual, someplace between the real and the real.

The trees, now, are trees I'm seeing myself seeing. I'll always deny that I kissed her. I was just whispering into her mouth. code Assignment: Write a poem about a specific scene you're observing involving a specific person with specific gestures, etc. The scene should trigger some kind of small epiphany and/or bring you to some memory of something involving tension/conflict. Go for an "honest" image, too (a painting of a cow in a room looking at a painting of a cow in a field).

Assignment B:

February: Thinking of Flowers By Jane Kenyon

Now wind torments the field, turning the white surface back on itself, back and back on itself, like an animal licking a wound.

Nothing but white—the air, the light, only one brown milkweed pod bobbing in the gully, smallest brown boat on the immense tide.

A single green sprouting thing would restore me...

Then think of the tall delphinium, swaying, or the bee when it comes to the tongue of the burgundy lily.

Assignment: Read the above poem and notice how the author is focusing and extended and extending even more on a particular weather event or nature-related event. Make an unusual comparison, as well (milkweed pod like a boat in a tide). What thoughts does this event inspire?