This week on Next Line, Please, quizmaster Lehman provides a new prompt for NLP regulars to try out.
For this prompt, let's start with on of these two titles: “Occupational Hazards” and “Barroom Brawl.”
The former works because "it is part of our discourse, a phrase that can suit many purposes or occasions;" and the latter because "it, too, is a familiar phrase and may conjure up a very concrete scene."
Now on to the rules...
Write a poem 10 to 15 lines long. A second constraint might prove useful. For example, you may write a 10-line poem divided into two five-line stanzas, both of which have identical last lines.
Or—and what a stunt it is—a 12-line poem in which the numbers from one to nine appear in English or homophonic form. You are encouraged to take liberties. The word for “five” in French sounds like “sank”; “four” is “fear” in German; “nine” is “nein” in that language; the word “one” is included in “wonderful.” It’s a wonderful paradox that constraints act as liberators of the imagination.
Visit the American Scholar's page for the full post and to enter your candidate!
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