After our introduction to obstructions, Professor Villanueva told us to start immediately. He began by making us writing some lists.
Write down seven bodies of water you actually touched or visited.
- River Thames
- Mediterranean Sea
- River Hudson
- Atlantic Ocean
- Masso delle Fanciulle River
- Solda Stream
- Sognsvann Lake
Write down seven anatomical features that are usually hidden.
- Pube
- Buttocks
- Thighs
- Breasts
- Belly Button
- Back
- Nape
*
Write down seven verbs that convey motion, change, shifting.
- Spiralling
- Whirling
- Mutating
- Running
- Heading
- Swifting
- Going
Write down the names of five birds associated with joy.
- Crows
- Parrots
- Eagles
- Sparrows
- Swallows
Then, he told us what the first obstruction was.
- Title: The Perfect Human.
- First line: Is not.
- Make use of language from each of the lists you’ve created.
- Must be at least 28 lines.
*
Here is my first draft, and my first poem ever.
The Perfect Human
Is not there.
Grand and essential,
eternal and still
the certain presence of an ocean
between cracking lands.
The perfect human slips away
In an almost invisible stream
Running down her nape
Heading to the spine
After a long night spent among
Burgundy sheets.
When sparrows start singing
Spiralling on the shore
As the sky gets white in the earliest
Hour of summer
Then she straightens up,
does her hair silently
her pale buttocks still on the bed
as she looks out.
I would like to tell her
To avoid stepping on the last
Slice of pizza I tossed on the floor
Before kissing her yesterday
But she’s already going
And I know summer is running away through
The wet sheets,
when she breathes in
the salty sea smell to whisper
“Swallows are ready to fly again.”
*
What was unique or distinctive about writing this piece?
The obstructions seemed like obstacles at the beginning. Actually, they weren’t. I also noticed that to me language becomes more interesting if I try to write poetry. I am used to write fiction, and being a non-native English speaker, when I write I try to “go on” rather than really think about the best word to use. With poetry, I feel I am more involved in my research to find the best word.
