Your Mission: (Re)Write

From the Department of Fiendish Plots:

You know those five poems you just wrote? That was awesome, right?

Here's how we're going to proceed with them. I want you to revisit those five poems throughout the semester. Actually, I want you to wholly re-see (i.e., revise: [Origin: 1560–70; revīsere to look back at, revisit, freq. of revidére to see again;]) these poems. To that end, you will apply any one of the following strategies to each of the five poems:

1. If it's 25 lines or less, double it.

2. If it's 25 lines or more, half it.

3. Add two syllables to each line. You can add lines but you can't subtract them.

4. Make the first line the last line of a new poem OR make the last line the first line of a new poem.

5. Make it a sonnet.

6. Make it a ghazal.

7. Make it a sestina.

8. Make it a prose poem. Eliminate 25% of the words.

9. Make each line the same number of syllables. You can add lines but you can't subtract them.

10. Cut 3 syllables from each line. You can cut lines but not add them.

When we conference we'll talk about both poems: the original and the re-seen version. You will then pick one to revise for critique.