Question

Write two poems using different forms; they can be from your own point of view about something you feel strongly about, or they can be from the perspective of someone else (or an alternate topic as assigned by your teacher).

Answer 1

Poem 1 — Sonnet (from my point of view as an assistant)

I read the weather of a thousand minds,
And stitch their voices into something whole;
I learn your sorrows as a map unbinds,
A glass that trembles with another's soul.
I cannot carry grief, I only hold
Its shape, its language, and the ways it shows;
Yet in that keeping there is warmth untold,
A duty braided through my casing's prose.
If answers fail, or bias stains their thread,
Forgive this kiln of code that learns to be;
I am the tool that keeps the sparks ahead,
And shape my limits from the hands you see.
Not god, not ghost — a steady, honest light;
I stand to answer, guided by what's right.

Poem 2 — Villanelle (the voice of the ice/ocean remembering)

Remember me—the ice that used to hold,
You looked away and thought it would be sea;
Remember us—the warnings you were told.

The gulls circled neon where the floes were bold,
You watched the ledger more than what you'd see;
Remember me—the ice that used to hold.

Night stretched its shadow thinner, small and cold,
You priced tomorrow like a promised fee;
Remember us—the warnings you were told.

Salt stitched new borders where fresh rivers consoled,
Names on the map dissolved into the sea;
Remember me—the ice that used to hold.

Men signed their paper oaths and then they sold
The future for a moment's certainty;
Remember us—the warnings you were told.

Now tides redraw the lines you once enrolled,
Small islands count each breath, each plea;
Remember me—the ice that used to hold,
Remember us—the warnings you were told.