For your second creative writing assignment, I would like for you to select a poem from the reading list for this
week. Identify one theme within the poem or one poetic element (such as the poet’s writing style). Next, write
an original poem that embodies the theme and/or the poetic element. You can make your content anything you
want it to be so long as it embraces the theme and/or poetic element you have identified. Start off this
assignment by including a poet’s statement (you are the poet in this case) and in that poet’s statement tell your
reader which poem you selected from the reading list, what the theme and/or poetic element was that you
identified for this writing assignment, and then a couple of sentences about anything else you want your reader
to know, understand or look for within your original poem that you wrote for this week). On the same page or in
the same Word document, underneath your poet’s statement, then give the poem you wrote for this week. This
is your poem–so allow it to manifest from your own creative impulses.
As you write your poem, you may want to consider the following:
Line breaks (where do you want to break the lines, does a word carry over from one line to the next?)
Stanzas (how many stanzas do you want your poem to include, what will be contained in each stanza, how will
you develop ideas per stanza, how will you connect the ideas from one stanza to the next or do you even want
your ideas to connect from one stanza to the next or do you want the stanzas to have some tension between
the ideas represented in each one?)
Imagery (what kind of images will you use?)
Is there a visual image or something you want your reader to picture in his or her mind as the reader interacts
with your poem?
What kind of language will you use? Will you use elevated language? Language that is lofty and grand? Or will
you use common, everyday language? Do you want the language to be imagistic or lyrical? Do you want the
language to be abrasive and disruptive? What kind of word choice can you use that will create the effect you
desire to have with the language?
Theme (what overarching message do you want the reader to be left with?)
Do you want the reader to connect his/her experiences with your experiences? Will your experiences factor
into the poem?
Do you want your poem to be narrative and tell a snippet of a story? Or do you want your poem to be more
lyrical and not necessarily tell a story but instead evoke a strong sense of emotion?
Jose Gonzalez, “Elvis in the Inner City,” 895 is the poem i chose
Text Book Info :The Norton Introduction to Literature, shorter 12th edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company,
2017. ISBN 978-0-393-62357-4. Require its on page 895