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 flowers, gloves, perpetual, and hinge.

If you would like to participate in the next special poetry assignment, the new words are maze, parade, loom, and recognize.

---

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

Elegy for my Hydrangea Bush
 
I'm talking about the commitment of perennials:
daisies that break through frozen ground
and their sister weeds in an untended patch.
 
Gina O'Neill

 

On Proofreading Your Sister's Med School Application
 
Picture the books
you might write and the books she will read, the accumulation
and divergence of knowledge, the scalpels, spirometers, ink.
 
Elizabeth Kerper

 

Two Word Poems
 
We sat clenched
under the skeleton light
of a possessive moon.
 
Ray Templeton

 

Three Word Poems
 
She worried at the rusted hinge
where the handle met the wagon, neglected
the laughter of her children as they bumped
down each curb
 
Judy Kaber

 

Endings
 
My eyes trace the age spots on her face—
it's an anxious medley on show today.
 
Barbara De Franceschi

 

Lento
 
How is it I never noticed the hinge
between this moment and the next
 
Terry Ofner

 

At Night the Perfumes of the Angel Trumpets
 
A year after her death
her dearest flowers thrive
 
Bob Bradshaw

 

Steph Curry Is My Favorite Team
 
I do not have a child, and so who could this
be for but myself.
 
Jack Murphy

 

American Corrido
 
Anyone can find Grace—even the Devil can deliver it.
 
David Mathews

 

I Confide in Lady Macbeth about My Divorce
 
"Look like th' innocent flower," she advises,
"but be the serpent under't."
 
Jennifer Finstrom