One’s-Self I sing, a simple separate person,
Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse. – Walt Whitman
With the above in mind, write a description of two or three paragraphs, no longer than 220 words, in which you describe one particular member or element of a set:
- one sparrow in a flock of sparrows
- one baby in a nursery of babies
- one marble in a bag of marbles
- one scream in a stadium of screams
- one somersault in a series of somersaults
- one baby goat in a stock trailer of baby goats
The challenge is to perceive the qualities of the group, and to distinguish what makes an individual a member of that group both a part of it and apart from it. Avoid the above examples; instead use sets (groups) that you can observe directly, or observe them from your imagination. Try for clarity and simplicity in your language.
At first, this is a prose exercise – write a couple of descriptive paragraphs. To make a poem, pull lines/phrases from the paragraphs and arrange as you’ve done in other exercises.
