G - Golden Shovel

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 G - Golden Shovel 

A golden shovel is an invented form, created by Terrance Hayes.  It is written by taking a line or lines from an existing poem and using each word as end words in your poem.  Keep the words in order, and make sure to give credit. 


"Here I am, an old man in a dry month,"

the opening line of T.S. Eliot's Gerontion.  The title is Greek for 

"little old man."  I would have liked to have added "year by year" as 

a last line, but that wasn't in the poem.


I am here.

There is nowhere else I

care to go, I am

a used up man, an

ancient, hoary, old

man.

I sit in

my dingy bedsit day after night, a

sorry sad man, withered and dry.

Here, day by day, week by week, month by month.


©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved 

Comments

  1. Idea-istApril 8, 2024 at 3:53 PM

    oh that's interesting! i didn't know that. that's got to be hard work making sure each line ends with the correct word. Idea-ist@GetLostInLit

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LisaApril 9, 2024 at 11:06 AM

      It's why I picked a short line! I also tried out other poems, but couldn't make them work as well. For some reason I was on a T. S. Eliot kick when I wrote a lot of the A to Z letters.

      Delete
  2. CherylApril 9, 2024 at 9:40 AM

    You are so good at doing all these, Lisa.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LisaApril 9, 2024 at 11:05 AM

      Thank you. Remember though, I started with a great line by someone else!

      Delete

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