Swing, or: Silence

A Blitz Poem

EPIGRAPH:

A poet must be a psychologist, but a secret one: he should know and feel the roots of phenomena but present only the phenomena themselves in full bloom or as they fade away.

–Ivan Turgenev (1818 – 1883)

Full bloom
Full swing
Swing voters
Swing state
State of denial
State of war
War of attrition
War bride
Bride of the sea
Bride to be
Be that as it may
Be at wits end
End of story
End of the line
Line of credit
Line drive
Drive by shooting
Drive a hard bargain
Bargain hunger
Bargain down
Down pat
Down on his luck
Luck through
Luck of the draw
Draw a blank
Draw blood
Blood is thicker than water
Blood money
Money talks
Money order
Order of St. Benedict
Order of the day
Day after day
Day of the Dead
Dead man standing
Dead end
End of the line
End times
Times are a'changin'
Times two
Two's company
Two birds with one stone
Stone cold sober
Stone wall
Wall painting
Wall of silence
Silence of the lambs
Silence is golden
Golden 
Lambs

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Blitz Poem rules

• Line 1 should be one short phrase or image (like “build a boat”)
• Line 2 should be another short phrase or image using the same first word as the first word in Line 1 (something like “build a house”)
• Lines 3 and 4 should be short phrases or images using the last word of Line 2 as their first words (so Line 3 might be “house for sale” and Line 4 might be “house for rent”)
• Lines 5 and 6 should be short phrases or images using the last word of Line 4 as their first words, and so on until you’ve made it through 48 lines
• Line 49 should be the last word of Line 48
• Line 50 should be the last word of Line 47
• The title of the poem should be three words long and follow this format: (first word of Line 3) (preposition or conjunction) (first word of line 47)
• There should be no punctuation

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Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

–Ben Harper (b. 1969)

Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!