Prompt #10 Address Poem

Today we will write an address poem. There are many possibilities for this. See a couple below:

1. An address poem can be a bit like a letter (called an epistle poem) wherein the poet addresses someone, usually in the opening line. The address can also come elsewhere in the poem, even at the end. Sometimes the "address" is implied, without actually NAMING the person, or it can be to a group, such as "Citizens of Paris, "

Citizens of Paris, you have wine to drink

rabble to rouse in the streets, a style

all your own where the bourgeoise

are at risk of overturning like so many

before. You have a duty to speak,

to shout in one voice or many, to die

for what is right. Those days have not passed.

Or the more personal address:

_____, you shut me down

when all I wanted was a kiss

or a squeeze of the shoulder

saying I'm here, I hear you.

You stopped me in my tracks

and made me feel small ...

2. An address poem can be aimed at a location, naming it either in the title or in the body of the poem:

#10 Downing Street, you reek of formality,

of propriety and the style of a bygone era.

No amount of publicity , no prayers will change you

from stodgy edifice to happening hot spot. It is set.

OR

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, you loom —

a reminder to us all that America is a house

with many rooms and closets. Inside

some are beautiful carpets, paintings,

in the other a few unsavory secrets.

Choose which kind of address poem you want to try and please post it on my blog. Try two to three stanzas.