Fear and Peace – A Poem

Fear crawls under my skin
Draped in his stealthy black cloak
Confidently, he commands, “Be terrified! Don’t move!”

Resistance rises within my flesh
Fully armored head to toe
“Don’t stop! Keep moving!” She shouts

Peace rallies to my side
Wrapped in the royal sash
His presence frightens my enemy

Photo by SpaceX on Unsplash

I struggle with fear. It’s a battle I must often fight when feelings of terror unexpectedly strike me, so when Ann Kroeker gave us this little assignment in her Art & Craft of Writing Course, I knew precisely which abstract ideas I wanted to describe. She shares this exercise from Imaginative Writing by Janet Burroway. When you’re done, you’ll end up with a three-line poem (or some multiple of three if you repeat the pattern).

The Pattern:

• Line 1: abstraction + verb + place
• Line 2: describe attire
• Line 3: summarize an action