poetry 2017 / 057

Today, I’d like you to write a poem that explicitly incorporates alliteration (the use of repeated consonant sounds) and assonance (the use of repeated vowel sounds). This doesn’t mean necessarily limiting yourself to a few consonants or vowels, although it could. Even relatively restrained alliteration and assonance can help tighten a poem, with the sounds reinforcing the sense.

Cemetery Spaniel

Soft and supple, splendid,

speeding through silver birch,

sleek body springing over stream

and celandine, scenting and searching,

smelling the scenery, the subtle selection

of seasonal sights and sounds.

Sensitive to shadows, to shades

of morning sunlight she runs

in silent simplicity.