THE CREATIVE PROCESS
The assignment was to write a poem of no more than 20 lines expressing something real and authentic, using only the words found in a given advertisement for Liebherr refrigerators – no changing tense, no pluralization. After making lists and many failed attempts, this is what I came up with at 2 AM:
One in three don’t make it
it’s not as easy as it looks
to be committed, to comply and be good;
in a new environment,
restriction can be hazardous.
you want to look at a choice not in your reach,
and to be the other one can make you green;
all that restriction can be healthy
if you can delight in the good you are given
(that is not easy to keep here).
Afterward, now free of the restriction (and I think all the words in that sentence were in the ad), I decided to edit in a few words that I had wanted to put in there but couldn’t. One edit led to another, and the final result is this poem, which I actually like:
Long Distance
when you’re let loose in a brand new backyard,
you just want to run and feel the grass under your feet;
the last thing you think of is putting up fences
and what you left behind indoors.
you want to taste the apples just out of your reach,
and missing that chance makes you green;
but not having a ladder is good
if you are happy with the fruit you already picked
(which is hard to remember in
so ripe an orchard).
Tags: class work, free verse, process work
