APRIL 5, 2024

PROMPT: Today we’d like you to start by taking a look at Alicia Ostriker’s poem, “The Blessing of the Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog.” Now try your hand at writing your own poem about how a pair or trio very different things would perceive of a blessing or, alternatively, how these very different things would think of something else (luck, grief, happiness, etc).

POEM:

THEY LOVE ME

To be cursed

said the young bride,

is to surrender yourself fully,

half of a locket empty.

They love me not.

To be cursed

said the pink carnation,

is to pluck out each strand,

and adorn your suit jacket.

They love me.

To be cursed

said the stone,

is to make a wish,

and sink to the bottom.

They love me not.

-Alexandra Johnson, inspired by The Blessing of the Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog