Next Line, Please: Tributes to May in January and The Expanse of Spirit [by Virginia Valenzuela]

Isn't it strange how a set of rules, such as end words or repeated lines or four-word constraints, can actually be more liberating than working from scratch? Over 200 entries poured in, 4 words at a time, making this week's anthology quite riveting. You'll notice how the line breaks occur almost naturally, and how the rhymes fall in unexpected places.

Pamela Joyce S’s “Onion” shows off her many layers of good writing:

What layers of skin
reveal or conceal is
a matter of protocol.
The procedure of peeling
can be precise—perhaps
surgical—or haphazard. This
feeling here, beneath the
sheer papery veil, thin,
white, and glistening—it
resists a reckless knife
but yields to meridian
slicing. The curve preserved,
an arc of tears
releases in sharp sweetness.

Keith Barrett contributed a cento--a poem made up of found lines--from May Swenson’s poetry. “The Key to Everything” is a splendid tribute to her.

The muggy setting sun
silently swallowed a pearl
and winked like diamonds

Where can I go
except in her sea
she is the staircase

I am not lost
I wish we were

At 77 turned ghost
The chemistry of prayer
lifted like a tendril

Fingers find by feel
I don’t I don’t

Night unanimous over all

Josie Cannella’s “Medicinal Purpose” excites both the seducer and the romancer:

I sanitized your glass,
first by kissing the
rim all around. Next,
by pouring in vodka
and swirling that around.

I then added ice,
crushed. I instilled some
cranberry juice, fresh lemon,
and a dash of
bitters for good measure.
I stirred it around.

Drinking it down, I
call the concoction a
Bitter Kiss Good-Bye.

As for next week, we will be writing a a collective poem—either a sonnet or a 16-line poem divided into four quatrains—one stanza at a time, beginning with this opening line, inspired by William Shakespeare's Sonnet 129:

“I spent my days in an expanse of spirit.”

Write three more lines. They do not have to rhyme. As Dr. Lehman suggests, "it would be wise, given the abstract nature of the line, to be as specific and concrete as possible." 

Visit the American Scholar's page to read the full post or click here to read the full rules of the next prompt and to enter your candidate!