Poetry Prompt

This is a lobster boat in Maine. Pretend they're catching fish.

This month's Writer's Digest just came in the mail today. As I read, I saw Robert Brewer's 'Poetic Prompt' in which he challenged writers to "write a poem with a hole in it."  He says the hole can be an actual hole or something nuanced, such as writing a poem removing all the verbs or adjectives. So I thought I'd try it.

I thought it best to use an old poem that I wrote so that I wasn't simply trying to fashion a poem without verbs. (Though that was probably what Robert Brewer intended I try to do, wasn't it? Oh well.)  It didn't work well on the first two poems I tried, but I think it works fairly well on this satirical 'ode' poem I wrote. I've included the original poem and the "hole" version in which I removed the verbs.

Ode to a Dead Fish

Put the rubber lures away,

Pick the worms up from the floor.

What was scaly-skinned and gray

Will not bite them anymore.

What was cold is strangely warm.

(How do gills work anyway?)

How can this small body be

Dinner served as fresh fillet?

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Hole version:

 Ode to a Dead Fish

The rubber lures away

The worms up from the floor

Scaly-skinned and gray

Not anymore

Cold, now strangely warm

(Gills anyway?)

This small body

Dinner as fresh fillet