In an ongoing series, the editors, former contributors, and readers of Eclectica have been invited to write a poem containing four pre-chosen words. The words for this issue are hoax, mosaic, courteous, and thirst. Below are the resulting selected poems.

If you would like to participate in the next special poetry assignment, the new words are vinegar, fossil, heedless, and embroider.

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(These are excerpts--click on the title to view the whole poem!)

 

Two Word Poems
 
He swore my fingers hoaxed berries
from his hands, the thirst like stealing
wild mushrooms in the woods.  
 
Arlene Ang

 

Two Word Poems
 
flies swarm in a sticky halo
thirst belches on a desert heatwave  
 
Barbara De Franceschi

 

aquarius
 
meet me at the mosaic bar
she answered and ordered
two prairie oysters on ice  
 
Dorothee Lang

 

Vizitanto
 
As heaven released its white misery, evening
nibbled at his skin. A bed of coffee grounds
and broken eggshells beckoned.  
 
Rosemarie Crisafi

 

On the Side of the Road
 
His thirst
is just a hoax
to coax us to his will.  
 
Deborah P. Kolodji

 

Two Word Poems
 
So, move on: she'd done it once—
weathered widowhood, found a way
to walk more lightly on the earth.  
 
Ray Templeton

 

The Hole in the Sky
 
The pole star
is what the Chukchee of northeast
Siberia called the hole in the sky.  
 
Jennifer Finstrom