First exercise: "Block,Pillar, Slab, and Beam". write a poem in which you build or take apart something
I wasn't there when he put it up
Nor when it was taken down
But I imagine him happy putting it up, a hale man in his sixties putting up a swing set for his grandsons
Sinking thick steel tubes into the ground, angled brackets holding them together
A screwdriver, a wrench, pliers in his hands as he marked and filled space with the frame, hung the chains to make the function
(I think about how he picked out the location, sun and shade, trees and garden)
I think that frame was still up (swings and chains long gone) when I graduated college, my brother high school
Might have still been there when I turned 25, bought a house of my own
Somewhere in there, he now late 70s, grandkids grown, I think he was a little sad at that, better with us as kids than as fellow adults
Maybe he got someone to do it for him, or at least to help, but I envision him alone
I imagine him regretfully unbolting rusted fixtures, hammering loose stuck pieces
Taking down a childhood and putting it out on the curb
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Exercise 2: translations: given an abstract word/idea, what concrete images come to mind
common: pebbles; grass; a big coffee can full of pennies; a beach full of sand
evil: a Nazi rally; George W. Bush's smirking face on a billboard; a bloody knife; a platoon of marching soldiers
pain: a bloody band-aid; a red skinned elbow; the color red; a sad man with wilted roses as a woman walks away; a man holding his hand over a flame
peace: golden peace sign medallion; protesters marching in the streets with signs; a man sitting in the shade, mediating or napping
solitude: a garden surrounded by a high fence; a woman standing alone in a field; a writer alone in a room working at her table
ecstasy: a woman enjoying the act of love; a smiling guru; a smiling dog getting a bellyrub; a man floating in a swimming pool
gratitude: a family praying grace silently; wrapping paper left under the tree Christmas morning; a Buddhist monk with hands together in front of his heart