Golden Shovel

Last week, I taught my poetry class about Golden Shovel poems, a form in which you use the words of a poem or part of a poem and write your own poem, making the words of the original poem the last word in each line. I chose a haiku from our textbook for my example. This was actually kind of fun, and I may do more as time allows.

 

Midnight Walk

(After Matsu Basho)

 

I slip out of bed, borrowing

Mom’s sweater. I can’t sleep,

So I take the lantern from

The shelf and slip silently out the

Door. Across the yard to the scarecrow’s

Field. I gasp, “Oh, friend! Your tattered sleeves!”

I can’t sew patches at dark midnight,

So I loan Mom’s sweater to chase the frost.