WORD JOCKEY
At night, I jockey words
Around the paddock.
The trainer keeps time
While I keep running.
I exercise the words each day
Trying for a faster time--
A better run. Sometimes
The word stretches its legs
Lengthens its stride.
Sometimes the word
Is stubborn and lazy.
It doesn't want to move
Balks at the starting gate.
Sometimes the word
Is scratched,
Scribbled into the dirt.
Some nights the word
Totally throws me
And I am left
To pick myself up and get back on
For another night's ride.
This poem uses an extended metaphor. It combines writing words with riding horses. I dream in words, they float around in my head at night as I try to put them together into another poem. If you write, I'm sure you have had the occasion in conversation where someone mis-heard your writing and riding. I think that may be where this poem came from.
My husband is a scientist. At one time he had over 8,000 mice, of different strains, with different genetic backgrounds that he kept to use for his experiments. We used to call him a Mouse Farmer. As a student in school, are you a Desk Jockey? So here is your poetry challenge for today. Can you knock the heads of two ideas together and extend the metaphor? Let's see, as a student, you might also be a Desk Gardener.
On the farm
the sun comes up early
I lift the top of my desk
take out paper and pen.
Stuck in this plot
enriching the soil
each paper tries to grow.
At noon,
the plants need watering
so we all march
to the lunch room.
To harvest great ideas
my teacher makes us
write many drafts.
We weed out many errors.
Try this and let me know how it works for you. Have fun playing with words and ideas today.
Writing poetry for children is an exercise in love.
Joy,
ReplyDeleteI loved the word jockey metaphor. I could visualize it. I have been thrown by a word, a story too. That's a hard bounce to take. But that's what writers do, just like jockeys.
Thanks for sharing some about your husband's science and work with 8,000 mice. I bet there are lots of poems on that topic, even that number!.
You create fun writing exercises. Have you tried something like this at a workshop?
Joy, your post is a delight. Thanks for all you share!