5-minute poem

The following quick-write poem is brought to you by the latest prompt posted on (In)Decisive Moments.

The instructions:

1. Write a question.

2. Write down the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the following:
Day of the week
Time of day
Painter
Color
Fruit
Body part
Room
Means of transportation
Shape
Article of clothing
Plant
Country
Song lyrics
Street name
Emotion
Animal
Children’s toy
Historical event
Rock group
City
Saying
Landmark
Element
Metal
Smell
Thing you find in a hardware store
Musical instrument

3. Another question.

In five minutes, write a poem opening with the first question, closing with the second question and including as many of the responses to the words as possible. Think about how to get from the first question to the second.

Remember: no more than five minutes!


Tinder box

What time is it in Long Beach?
He is no Rembrandt, this child
no fan of light and dark, he is
like Mondays at noon--neither here nor there.
Ask him to draw a pear and he draws an arm.
From the bus he sees red octagons.
From his window he sees red octagons
all along Broadway,
beyond the living room’s ferns.
He wants a place to hang his shirt--
Country roads, take me home. . .
past grief, to horses.
To Andersen, to dogs with eyes as large
as the round towers of Copenhagen.
He is a metal lighthouse, steel and glass,
striking and, in the storm, struck.
The red tides bring brine into the street.
He does not know whether
to pick up hammer or horn.
And where am I going next?