This was one of my word prompt poems circa age 20. “Train” and “mouse” were two of the words. With most word prompt poems, step 1 for me was finding all the possible contexts for the random words I’d chosen. Step 2 was choosing my favourite idea; step 3 to build a poem around that idea. I guess this is one of my lazier pieces, because I didn’t move past step 1:
I asked for a train
From father, from mother,
A big train, a long train,
And that was not all.
I wanted a mouse;
A white mouse, a smart mouse,
A long-tailed, fun mouse
That felt good to touch.
I should have drawn pictures,
I realize too late,
Of locomotives and rodents;
They’d see what I said.
My dress doesn’t have wheels,
Though its train is real long
Mom trains me to curtsey without falling down
My train of thought runs wild round the rails
When dad trains cameras on me
And tells me to smile
As for the mouse, it’s a pet like no other
They gave me a white one for my computer.
Jennifer Lott - Author Website 