The Sharp Jewel

Okay, I decided to hang with the Golden Shovel Poems longer. I can’t help myself. It’s not my fault there are so many great poets in the world. I’ve used William Blake and Robert Frost for inspiration. It’s time for me to take advantage of one of the women poetresses. When I read Jo Jo Moyes’ The Giver of Stars, I was reminded of Amy Lowell. I read her work in the past and decided to explore her poetry for a while. Therefore, this new poem will be titled The Sharp Jewel.  

 Terrance Hayes invented the Golden Shovel style of poetry. This form of found poetry allows the writer to take a favorite poem and use it to make something original. I experimented with found poetry last year when I wrote Blank Verse poems. Now, I am having fun writing Golden Shovel Poetry.

The rules for writing a Golden Shovel Poem and  The Sharp Jewel

While researching this style of poetry created by Terrance Hayes, there seem to be four simple rules. You can use as many lines of the poem as you want, and the poem will end with you being your creation. I find this idea interesting. Written below are the three simple rules.

1). Choose a poem that you like. Currently, I will use poems by Amy Lowell.

2)Use each word in the line or lines as the end word in your poem. Make sure they stay in order.

3) Construct an entire poem around them. The meaning doesn’t have to be the same.

4) Give the original poet credit who wrote the line or lines you used.

Here are a few quick facts about Amy Lowell. She was the leading poet in the Imaginist School. This woman never attended college and considered herself a social outcast when she was young. She was an avid reader and book collector. Also, she publicly smoked cigars, which was outrageous for a woman then. Pieces of the poem The Blue Scarf by Amy Lowell will appear at the end of each line of this poem. I will title The Sharp Jewel .

The Sharp Jewel 

I knew why she
Cries when she draws
The conclusion that it
Never paid to ask for more
Or ask questions or look closely
Into what the thing was all about
It didn’t matter much to her
About ancient prophecies and
Doctrines explaining the wrong of it
The sin and wrong of its still ripples
In a swirling void far beneath
The surface of the place where her
Feet stand and the way they slight
Everything by constantly stirring
The pot that belongs to her
A dishonesty in their hugs and kisses
The hypocrisies and barbs are
Filed with fire and teeth so sharp
Like a dagger’s deadly buds
The prickly points made of
Sharp-tongued steel and forged in fire
Blazing hot, blackened and
But there was nothing I
Could do to stop its burn
Even though I had her back
There was too much to stand against
And I must admit I admired her
Shining in the gutter like a
Valuable superb sharp jewel

Who is Molly Shea?

Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh.  To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.

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