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 mania, flux, ceremony, and borrow.

If you would like to participate in the next special poetry assignment, the new words are fume, pound, countertop, and postscript.

---

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

Phases
 
The rest is rumor—
madness and mania,
wolves at midnight
 
Antonia Clark

 

In Flux
 
A rooster was my best man, but he flew
into a locust tree and would not come when called.
 
Brent Fisk

 

The Shipwrecked Man and the Sea
 
and while her flesh is what he expects,
paleness that mimics death, he does not think
to find her beautiful
 
Jennifer Finstrom