Poetry Excercise 1

The following "poems" were created by group members during a recent meeting. The rules for the exercise were to create a piece of writing which starts with a well-known saying or proverb which is modified slightly, is 10 lines long and contains 5 of the following words: voice, blackberry, mother, cloud, needle, cliff, whir, lick.

Annoyance is the mother of invention
My brain clouds with
the whir and click of devices
Blackberries interrupt my reading
Businessmen yell into cell phones
With a vooice that would reach
Their caller without aid.
I just want to be out of range
A few moments of quiet.
An island of peace. - Joe Cunningham

He roamed the yards of the neighborhood
Always within range of his mother's voice. -
A leash held deceptively loose.
When clouds clustered overhead
Like blackberries ready to burst
Against the innocent tongue
He paused, at the edge of a distant street. -
the edge of a cliff over which childhood would fall.
Then turned and slowly trudged toward home.
All guilt in his play made Johnny forever a boy. - Steve Fox

To pee of not to pee
over the cliff
and into the sea
To pee or not to pee
with a loud voice
or the silent whir of a bee.
To bee or not to bee
while watching a cloud
Not again, too much tea
Mother, to pee or not to pee. - Bill Walsh

A blackberry saved
is a blackberry earned.
I can hear
the voice of my mother
In a cloud
Like so much cotton candy
I step off the cliff
Deliberate? Accident?
The said "he was dancing"
You decide. - Stan Denski

No good lick goes un-mothered.
Like a soft caressing voice
It covers you with warmth
Even spilt tea doesn't erase.
In a cloud of happiness you smile
The tongue brings with it a hint of blackberry
A recent treat for a job well done.
No good mother goes un-licked.
I love dogs.
Lick me again. - Kevin Friedly