Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Box Sonnets



The design constraints for this one were as follows: Each student prepared a small box with five treasured items in it, taped it shut, wrote their name on and and exchanged it with another student. Each student took a box home and wrote a sonnet about what might be in the box. These were read in class. Then the students opened the box and wrote a second sonnet on the items actually in the box. The results were quite varied and oftentimes lovely

Gregory Tam

Sonnet #1


"Brings Me Pleasure"



(about Leemya Yamya's box)



These jewels that I love are expensive

They shine and trickle in light or darkness

My money is what allows me to live

I’m thankful for it, I feel very blessed

My calculator saves me all the time

Without it I would not know what to do

A little cereal is not a crime

It allows me to do what I need to

These headphones that play music in my ears

Also allows me to get through the day

Everything that I would like to hear

It puts me into an amazing daze

All of these things are what I love in life

Even without one life is not alright

***

Gold

Dillon Shaw

My hand it holds a box emblazoned gold
with tape and marks of name and year long past
I weigh it pondering what it may hold.
It clinks and rattles yet its bounds hold fast
and surely contents match the coat in tone
and within sealed is fortune beyond peer
but how can life so true be summed in wealth alone
it must of course hold trinkets once held dear
in thoughts and dreams still held by mark of name
of secrets marked by year long past its time
on box so small yet so profound in fame
which holds its trinkets metallic which chime
in tune to life so great in wealth and pride
revealing no secret yet none to hide

*********
Allison Ferrini

Dillon Shaw's Box of Wonders

This bright red box has so much potential
Inside this box anything is feasible
Dillon considers this box essential
A million things in it are conceiveable
Yet Dillon has chosen 6 rare items
that represent his life, love, joy, and soul
You see plastic, he sees brilliant gems
Without this box he is not fully whole
But he has entrusted his heart to me
I am curious but not allowed to peek
I swear I didn't look at his mystery
and to shake the box is a futile technique
Perhaps tomorrow I will discover
what lies beneath Dillon Shaw's bright cover

*******
Nicole Yang


In the midst of bliss

awaken by the sunlight hitting her face
she turns her head the other way
thick golden brown waves finely trace
the lines of her pillow that say

“Follow that flying butterfly...”
head facing her freshly painted wall
that so clearly depicts the reason why
people believe love conquers all

deciding it was time to rise
she reaches for her silver necklace
and instead ends with surprise
a symbol of a love so priceless

pure bliss sweeps across her face
as she basks in nature's sweet embrace

*****
Errin Hadnot

Contents of Cream Cheese (Sonnet)

Inside this box contains five values
I'm curious to know the things it holds
It is extremely hard for me to choose
I can't wait till' this rectangle unfolds

Maybe a seashell from the beach or shore
Or even a copper coin worth a cent
She might have got them out of her drawer
Her folks could have sent them as a present

There may be a pin of U-C Davis
which can be worn on a piece of clothing
A mirror to check out her faces' bliss
Kid at heart who owns bouncy balls to bring

Just a few ideas of this mystery
Hope it sparks feelings from her memory

*****

Callie Baramki-Azar

Silent Aggravator

Oh object that contains your pride

Locked and kept shut from my gaze

Tangled up are your emotions inside

A guess is only to wander blind through a maze

For you keep from me what your hearts’ deemed true

Items that could illustrate your story

Oh what you have concealed from me is you

Unwritten tale of your glory

Hard and sealed is its design

Creator oh cruel you have been

Show me and make thine story mine

To never reveal would be harsh sin

Oh object that sits here with stoic ease,

To which my curiosity utters only, please.

**

Callie Baramki-Azar

Dismal Treasures


As I stumbled with no direction

Through the park across the way

I came across something with deep affection

The contents of which I must display

So dismal a surprise I didn’t expect

Yet sealed with care in its box of tin

It lay deserted on the pavement with neglect

A cruel joke left behind by my kin

Inside a quarter, with gum stuck to one side

And a used plane ticket with a long past date

No worth I can place in a used toothpick I must confide

And in a lone ugly feather I find only hate

Yet all placed in a box with great care,

These must hold great worth to someone out there.



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