Sherman Alexie had a poetry contest a while back. The requirement was to include all the disparate words on a list. People had to write fast because he only accepted the first 50 entries which only took a very short time. There was one winner and 4 additional finalists, my son was a finalist and here's the poem: Skyscrapers rake the air in a perverted photosynthesis, scratching at the energy they need to carry on living. It takes so little and there is much to spare; Earth is more robust than the tower cares to admit. Once, one of them escaped to the forest, to compete with the trees; it didn't work out. They found it, felled, in a field of lavender. The smells proved too much. Later, the steel beams rooted and an apple tree grew from the decaying corpse; too bad we all hate granny smiths. I'm beaming.
He's right, I'm more of a gala fan. I have to say I love this, and not just because simplicity is my weakness, but also because of its (seemingly) straightforward meaning. This is the type of poetry I like to see, and it cheered me up quite a bit. Many thanks to your kid!
I love the images it creates, the double meanings. I don't quite get the poem, but not because it's confusing, but only because it seems to have more layers than I can comprehend right now. Makes you think in a pretty and relaxed way, because you're filled with the images of blue sky and apple trees and towering flowers.
These were the rules: 1. The competing poets must use these 5 words in their poems: robust, apple, hate, skyscraper, and lavender. 2. The poem must be ten lines or less.
a brilliant piece of poetic profundity! in all aspects... i can't imagine why it took a backseat to the winner... can you give me the link to the winning entry? i can next to never use that word in re new poets' work and i've been mentoring aspiring poets for decades, so i hope you'll pass my kudos on to your son... does he write poetry on a regular basis, or did he just toss this off for fun?
