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Things to Consider in Making a Choice:
- How well the poem incorporates the authlete’s assigned word.
- Technical elements: meter, rhyme, form, shape, and other poetic standards.
- Creativity: wordplay, imagery, unusual approach, etc.
- Subtle elements that make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
- Your overall response: emotional reaction such as admiration, tears, laughter, terror, or some indefinable feeling.
Here are the poems:
6-involuntary
Astronomical Tide
By Cheryl Lawton Malone
Restless waves can build a shore
if they so decide.
Pushing sand from the sea floor.
Pulling rocks not there before.
Spreading seashells by the score.
Their voluntary side
Waves possessed by Mother Moon
must obey the urge.
Crashing over roads at noon.
Bashing cliffs with friend Monsoon.
Smashing into wall and dune.
Involuntary surge
vs.
15-rationalize
Clean out of Reason
By J. J. Close
My mother just told me my room is a mess,
Implying that maybe I’d clean it, I guess.
I say it’s okay and that she shouldn’t stew,
I’ll clean it today, yes, that’s what I’ll do!
But as soon as she leaves, I hop on my chair,
I roll up my sleeves; at the TV I stare.
I grab the controls to my fantasy game,
Completing the goals, I find fantasy fame.
My make-believe house is running quite fine,
My make-believe spouse has a knack for design.
In the game my room’s clean, and it’s easy, you see,
I hit blue and green, then it cleans it for me!
So, I rationalize my room’s awful mess,
As I look the room over for buttons to press!
But it could be, just might be, yes, probably be.
That my room will have to be cleaned up by me!
6-involuntary vs. 15-rationalize: Which Poem Did You Prefer?
- 6-involuntary (Cheryl Lawton Malone) (61%, 216 Votes)
- 15-rationalize (J. J. Close) (39%, 139 Votes)
Total Voters: 354

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