I'm going to borrow an idea from UBERTATI and borrow your brains. What you do is take the information below and try to write a poem with what you're given, and in a limited amount of time. You'll probably better understand its value as an exercise AFTER you try.
Her name:
Lucy O'Neil
Her claim to fame:
Most popular girl at Dotonamap Elementary School from kindergarten through 5th grade.
Most significant event of her life:
When they were in sixth grade, her step-brother shot himself because her dad had promised him a four-wheeler if he got all As like her...but he got a C.
What she's doing right now:
Getting out of her Subaru for an interview at a coffeehouse.
What she wants more than anything at the moment:
A tall mocha frappe.
Lucy wants a tall mocha frappe.
The 1982 textbooks
in the hatch of her Subaru
say she wants her step-brother back:
grade six:
straight C's
a shotgun
she
She is going for an interview
with God. God likes his coffee
straight. But there's no use comparing--
it doesn't work that way.
Football yanked away from Charlie
an AUG! and a muzzle flash
Middle of the line
Middle of the outline.
Pay five cents for advice
miss the point, get the marks
door slams, wanted:
Brilliant girl seeking
Entry-level employment
"Lucky Lucy" said all the boys and girls
with her bright brown eyes and hair with curls
"Cursed sister" grated the bitter brother
as he cradled the pistol and drank another
"Prized possession" beamed her proud ol' pop
but no amount of bluster made the memories stop
"Employee of the month" read the tainted plaque
and Lucy O'Neil refused to look back.
"Lucy's Mocha"
bigger and better
is a game that children play.
and yet, it still takes more
to fill me up:
to stop the ache, to fill the hollow,
to numb the guilt.
holding my longings
tightly to my heart
because I'm sliding further
from the goal:
into survival mode, into my failure,
into reality.
mine is finally done:
[here in the 3/16/04 entry]
Lucy O'Neil
She would pass this test
Just like the ones before.
She was sure to her core.
If she really must confess,
She wants a tall mocha frappe.
She had always been the best.
Her father never ceased to adore
Her and pretty much ignored
Her brother as no contest.
Lucy wants her tall mocha frappe.
She really wasn't distressed,
But she couldn't wait anymore.
She needed to reach the door
And enter where she'd be assessed.
She really wants her tall mocha frappe.
How would he be addressed:
Her brother who found it in a drawer?
And only for a 'C' fell in his gore.
She felt a pang in her breast.
No, she wants her tall mocha frappe.
"The Sounds Lucy Hears"
A shot rang out loud and clear
Dad's drowning it out with beer
Most popular girl in elementry
The person her step-brother could never be.
Why did he make such a promise?
Oh how horrid the mark was missed!
Beacuse of this girl, Lucy,
The person her step-brother would never be.
She's playing with the lock,
Is there anything she forgot?
An interview decides her eternity
The person her step-brother will never be.
Remembering the sound of death
She takes a shaking breath
And longs for a frappe to ease
Her person, which her step-brother could never be.