Change // Swinging Moods

A while ago, a friend sent me 3 different poetry challenges. I have so far answered the first one, which was the haiku challenge. Let me know what you think of the next 2, or better still: have a go at them your self.

1. Write a poem inspired by ONE of the words from this list. It doesn't necessarily have to be about it, it just needs to be inspired by it:
Peach
Candle
Sand
Mirror
Star
Winter
Castle

Change

Within the heart burns
An idealised belief:
That action and reaction
Can change the world.

Yet before the world can change
First look into your own reflection,
And ask truthfully:
Are you capable of
Changing yourself?

Within is the ability to change,
And to become more than you are:
The internal capacity
To change the world
That you inhabit

Each change,
Each word spoken:
That comes from the person
You have now become,
Can be a greater influence
Than simply demanding
That others change for you.

Do not stand behind the wall
Bricked in by what you believe
The world should become:
Only change within yourself
Can change what the world
Has the potential to become.

Guide yourself;
Guide those around,
To become an architect
Of what our full potential is:
Accept that your guiding light
Will burn brightest
Beyond the life you live,
Long after the sand
That your life is measured by
Runs out.

2. Write a poem as you usually would (or use one you have already written), but cut out all instances of these words: a, the, and, of, to, for. Try to make your poem make sense without using any (or at most, two or three) of these words.

Swinging Moods

Swinging moods
Happy, sad,
Angry, mad,
Slightly crazy
Very lazy:
Doing nothing,
Wanting nothing
That will mess with
This lazy mood

Being slightly mad
Can make others quite sad,
Or even slightly scared,
Why scared?
Ask someone
Whose mood is never
Slightly mad.

Having swinging moods
Makes time rush by,

By creating amusement
At others’ expense:
As others never know
What your mood will be;
What your mood will become
What mood will be coming next.

Consider my swinging moods
Like riding rides at amusement parks:
Do you enjoy riding roller-coasters,
Or do you prefer
Something more tame?

Change // Swinging Moods by Allison Brown is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License. Based on a work at www.allisonbrown.blogspot.com.