Write me a poem

You have five minutes to think

Two minutes to feel,

One minute to write

After the allotted time you must stop thinking,

Stop feeling, stop writing

Or I’ll call you a cheat.

Write me a poem

Fit the exact brief

No more than twenty words,

No less than twenty five

If your word count is too much I’ll have to judge

Your poem on meaning

and I’ll fail you for that

Write me a poem

About your beliefs

Your grandiose worldview

In the allotted space

Capture the infinite of human experience

Distill it perfectly

Let nothing escape

Write me a poem

About how you see life

Your unique opinion

Make sure it’s correct

Failure to replicate my exact thoughts

Will lead to a ‘fail’

There are no resits

Write me a poem

And please include these words:

Democrat, insight,

allegory, pitfall,

epidemiologist,

knickerbocker, brisket,

cereal and guilt.

Five subjects are mandatory,

Three involve a dentist

Two you don’t believe in,

One of them makes sense

Write me a poem

And do remember, children-

This poem must encapsulate

The reason you’re alive

Beat your creativity so it’s small enough to swallow

Trivialise emotion

And Make. It. Make. Sense.

Write me a poem

You have five minutes to write,

Two minutes to connect

One minute to create

It may all be subjective but the Ministry doesn’t care

So enjoy these eight minutes

You may begin now

by Gray Dawson