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 iron, paper, sundial, and doctor.

If you would like to participate in the next special poetry assignment, the new words are antique, perpetual, splinter, and wren.

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

Dawning Realization
 
From city to outback and back
again, rescuing, healing,
hospitalizing.
 
Paula Ward

 

Two Word Poems
 
No doctor could heal
those wounds, but his way was to
honor all the lost.
 
Ray Templeton

 

Synesthesia
 
I feel the weight of gathering shadows
as evening draws itself closer, its gray
shawl clutched by a frail hand.
 
Antonia Clark

 

The Placebo Effect
 
On the wall behind him I admire the colorful
evisceration: A poster from Gray's Anatomy,
a grin that's not a grin.
 
Brent Fisk

 

Divorce Dogfight
 
My future became a country under siege.
They demanded lifelong payments.
 
Bob Bradshaw

 

Unforgettable
 
Iron-tongue whispers pile into coded messages
that tread soft footed yet strong in gait
across dented pillows.
 
Barbara De Franceschi

 

Have Mercy on Such as We
 
His starched coat reminds her of Mother,
standing over white shirts on the ironing board
 
Greta Bolger