Creative Writing Class

   I'm finally taking fun classes this semester! One of this is creative writing. This poem really is my first assignment from that class, and it is mostly true.

 Assignment One

It can't be hard to write a poem

Concrete with abstract undertones

Memories rise up scene by scene

Of Baba shelling long, flat beans

Of tents I made with chair and sheets,

Of Mama saying, “No more sweets!”

Of laughing till I nearly cried

On days with lumpy pillow skies

I type a line and pause to think

Until I'm dying for a drink

I stare at my computer screen

The plain white space looks back at me

I stab the backspace key again

I clear my throat and tap my chin

Erase, erase, a blank white screen

Too loud, the sound of this machine

My eyes are heavy, red and dry

The light is fading from the sky

I pull my hair, I whack the air

I jump up on a kitchen chair

I take a breath and try to smile

I sit and ponder for a while

My eyes have crossed—they might be stuck

I look like a strabismic duck

Why waste five hours of Saturday?

I'll try it the old-fashioned way.

I'm armed with paper and a pen

I write about my three best friends

I sigh and think my homework's done

I write, all caps, ASSIGNMENT ONE

I smile and read it one last time

To check my spelling and my rhymes

My jaw detaches from my face

I thought I'd covered every base

But abstracts litter every line

I'm just about to lose my mind

I snatch a pen I haven't chewed

I take a breath and open to

A page that's crisp, unmarked and white

A page that's crisp, unmarked and white