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 name, domestic, nothing, and summon.

If you would like to participate in the next special poetry assignment, the new words are neighbor, blanket, anniversary, and eleven.

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

Domestic Flight
 
What got my attention,
apparently, was the fantastic pink
and purple abstract fresco
 
Margaret Holley

 

"please consume by sell-by date"
 
I can handle a version of domestic
that is more like
its exact opposite
 
Erin Vogel

 

Collateral
 
I used to think
how the uterus is shaped like a house
slated for repossession
 
Gina O'Neill

 

My Mother Swimming Laps
 
My mother swims back and forth and back unceasing,
summoning shadows to flicker up the walls and
wood beams of the ceiling.
 
Jack Murphy

 

Astrology for Nonbelievers
 
On the back porch of this party, everyone is discussing astrology
very seriously
 
Elizabeth Kerper

 

Past Lives
 
Today your grandson looks
on as you pull up relations like weeds from some long
untended garden.
 
Judy Kaber

 

In Yancowinna County
 
trees that curtsy to domestic struggle
bank loans that summon another untimely death
 
Barbara De Franceschi

 

Summer Solstice
 
My domestic goddess host made me moonshine
martinis and lamb she remembered fondly.
 
David Mathews

 

A Guide to Reading My Poems (Part One) Wherein I Use the Vocative O
 
I speak to you more often than I pray
to my domestic gods, the household lares
that look after my tea things.
 
Jennifer Finstrom