Project 1

The Winding Path

The winding path is definite.

Its twists deliberate, turns apparent,

The trees along are fruitful.

The syrupy sweetness overt,

Should keep those in line.

Yet many with a sweet tooth,

Remain in the lush, appealing,

Forest along the winding trail

Gluttonous, hopelessly lost,

From the divine path, established.

Discipline

One must embrace

Frugality

Lifelong discipline

Needed

To unwaveringly pursue

Truth

Against the ones who

Control it

Artist Statement:

I chose to emulate Jack Gilbert’s poem, “Michiko Dead.” As shown in the poem I wrote, I emulated Gilbert’s structure. I used the commas throughout the poem and kept the phrasing fairly sparse. For the second poem, I chose to emulate the poem, “ The Red Wheelbarrow.” Shown obviously in the poem I wrote, I emulated the two lines and short structure of the poem. For the first poem, I struggled to come up with a topic to write about. After I figured out the overall message I wanted the poem to have, I then struggled to fit the phrasing established by Gilbert’s poem. However, once I overcame these obstacles, the construction of the poem was fairly easy. In the second poem, I did not have any particular struggles when forming the piece. One minimal challenge was maintaining the two line structure while having the length be shorter on the lower line. I triumphed over these obstacles by using a form of trial and error. I would type something out and if I thought it matched the style of the original author, I would keep the writing and if I didn’t I scrapped it. Mimesis can be a good strategy for writing because it can create guidelines. I am a person who is inherently not very creative, so having structure makes things much easier for me. Therefore, forcing myself to mimic these poets can help me create something compelling structurally that I would not be able to do completely on my own.