AND THE ASSIGNMENT IS: write a poem that begins with a line from another poem (not necessarily the first one), but then goes elsewhere with it.
For example, you could begin, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,” or “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” or “I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster,” or “they persevere in swimming where they like.”
Really, any poem will do to provide your starter line – just so long as it gives you the scope to explore.
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Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?*
Of the most fleeting season that shies it away?
In typical Canadian weather (unknown just what’s in store);
But, when it’s not of your liking, wait only five minutes more!
Rain changes into hail, and hail turns into sleet;
And sleet morphs into blinding snows, on the ice rinks known as streets,
As drought quickly dries up the moisture and tumbleweeds roll past your door;
Then the winds create thick dust clouds and you cannot see anymore.
So, a summer’s day I can compare, easily to thee;
If you are a fickle bitch like the Seasons tend to be!
*first line from William Shakespeare’s Sonnet #18