Personification "Prose" Poem

[Maricel Evasco]

I've always enjoyed doing this particular creative writing lesson in class. It seems easy, but my students encounter some difficulties making idea seem human.

Personification- giving human qualities to inanimate objects, animals, and ideas.

Pick one human trait or value and personify it so that it has a gender,
distinct personality traits, etc.

beauty, joy, humor, sympathy, empathy, trust, forgiveness, humility, patience, courage strength, confidence, kindness, hatred, greed, anger, evil, depression, laziness, etc

Pleasure
Pleasure is wild and sweet. She likes purple flowers. She loves the sun and the wind and the night sky. She carries a silver bowl full of liquid moonlight. She has a cat named Midnight with stars on his paws.

Many people mistrust Pleasure, and even more misunderstand her. For a long time I could hardly be in the same room with her. I went to sleep early to avoid her. I thought she was a gossip and a flirt and she drank too much. In school we learned that she was dangerous. and I was sure that she would distract me from my work. I didn’t realize she could nurture me.

As I have changed, Pleasure has changed. I have learned to value her friendship.

From The Book of Qualities, by Ruth Gendler (1988)


Beauty ~ Alicia Smolinski
Beauty has starlit eyes and lashes are gold wings . She dances in circles with butterflies and ribbons. Her airy dresses hide her fragile ankles and dust the ground beneath her, clearing a path for her perfect feet. She rarely wears shoes, and her paints her toenails light like the color of peaches. Beauty makes friends with those who fear her most and holds their trembling hands. She eats lavender and rose petals.

Beauty's story is not so pretty. Intertwined in her honeyed hair is a hidden crown of thorns. Some hate her before they greet her. People talk about her behind her back. The whole world despises her, yet all pursue her. She has the burden of looking radiant at all times--if she fails at this task her tarnished appearance will provoke sarcasm and scorn. She is not allowed to cry; she is not allowed to get angry. Moreover, she is not allowed to want: what could one so beautiful possibly desire?

[Lily Roth]

Patience wears a coat with many pockets,each one filled with a pleasant memory to pass the time away.Around her wrist she wears a broken watch,she has no need to count the minutes in a day,she counts her blessings instead.She always carries a bright red umbrella at her side, even though she knows, eventually this storm too, shall pass.She likes to write secrets in the sand, when the ocean washes away her words, she can write new ones. Christmas is her favorite holiday,when she tries to guess what is inside every gift, before she tears off the pretty wrappings.Patience hears music in the wind and sees animals in the clouds and she has given every sparkling star in the night time sky a name. And Patience will always wait for love,no matter how late it finally shows up.....

[Maricel Evasco]

(sigh) Lily, you write so beautifully. I really think you ought to write for publication. Have you never tried?
I love your prose poem on patience especially the last line.

Buy or borrow the The Book of Qualities, by Ruth Gendler (1988). I have a copy at home which I enjoyed reading several times over. I also borrowed her idea of personification prose poem for my lesson in class especially when I am teaching figures of speech. I require my students to add at least 3 to 5 figures of speech when writing their poem.

alliteration, assonance, metaphor, simile, oxymoron, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, etc.

[Lily Roth]

Maricel I love your writing challenges. You inspire me to write. You make writing so much fun for me....More More More my little muse!....lol

[Apposite]

Beauty

Beauty is Sensuous
Beauty is Serendipitous
Beauty is Sexy
Beauty is Simple
Beauty is Stately
Beauty is Subtle
Beauty is Supreme
Beauty is Sustaining

[Maricel Evasco]

nice adjectives....especially the last one...."sustaining"-- care to elaborate?

[Apposite]

I wanted to add "secure" to the list but it didn't pass the muster test. I remember telling my wife that most beautiful women didn't need to be told they were beautiful because they already knew it. Interestingly enough she said "No, - beautiful women especially need to hear it because they are so prone be insecure given today's marketing and the emphasis placed on youth" I guess there's nothing new in that but for me personally, true beauty sustains over time regardless changes in life stages. The word "sustain" seemed more enduring and seemed fitting for having the last word in the order placement.

I have always been fascinated by beauty, not so much because it is often defined as sex appeal, but for me, true beauty often comes out regardless of physical looks. That is such a powerful form of beauty, hence my use of "subtle".