Writing Exercise #89

INGREDIENTS:

1. At your worst, you are what?

2. One of the most memorable punishments you received when you were young.

3. Something you got away with.

4. A punishing last line you have hurled at someone else.



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This is going to be a poem in three stanzas. I'll help you out with your first stanza, but you'll have to fill in a few blanks for the rest.


Stanza 1:

Line 1: Your worst self.
Line 2: The punishment and what you learned.
Line 3: What you got away with and what you learned.
Line 4: The punishing last line.

Stanza 2:

Line 5 (repeat of line 2 in stanza 1)
Line 6 (new line)
Line 7 (repeat of line 4 in stanza 1)
Line 8 (new line)

Stanza 3/Last Stanza

Line 9 (line 2 of the previous stanza)
Line 10 (line 3 of the first stanza)
Line 11 (line 4 of the previous stanza)
Line 12 (line 1 of the first stanza)

By the end of it, you will have a pantoum. Exciting!


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This exercise was inspired by a moment in this poem.