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 fume, pound, countertop, and postscript.

If you would like to participate in the next special poetry assignment, the new words are blanket, acorn, backward, and refract.

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

Bonsai
 
Aged trunk remembers
the fume of cool glades, chaste rain
 
Barbara De Francheschi

 

Liberation
 
A man doused the fire on another's coat
with fuming water from an ornamental pond.
 
Ray Templeton

 

After Another Day Spent on the Couch
 
I can't cowl
shadow here. I can't desk drawer.
 
Jesse Damiani

 

Starting to Read Moby Dick
 
I felt the pounding
of waves against the walls, the presense of something large out there, fuming and seething
 
Jennifer Finstrom