During National Poetry Month, we initiated a collaborative poetry game known as Exquisite Corpse. Throughout April, you – our readers of Novel Novice – submitted a phrase or word in the comments section. The words built upon each other and the result of this experiment is featured below.
Many thanks to all of our contributors, including a few of our esteemed Novel Novice featured authors – Kimberly Derting, Lisa Schroeder, and Heidi R. Kling – for enthusiastically taking part in this collaboration!
Note: In compiling the poem, I took a few liberties with punctuation, capitalization, and line breaks to improve the flow – otherwise, contributors’ words are untouched. (For more about the history of Exquisite Corpse, click here.)
Without further ado, here is the finished Novel Novice Exquisite Corpse Poem, authored by all of YOU!
Ignite
The flower’s bloom has yet to ripen.
Magnolia buds, cocoons on wet boughs,
love and needles and gypsy dreams.The grass beneath the plows
robots in transit,
wave at the distant moon.I hit the freezing water feet first. And that’s when I noticed the fins.
Finishing ends to this evil plot unfold.
But do not wonder.Unnecessary chattering rips through my conscience,
guilt floods over me, cold and deep.
Rising unexpectedly, pounding against my bonesthe air around us shivers
as we tumble into despair.
Rising once more just to fall again.
Tell us what you think in the comments!
Novel Novice 
I think it turned out interesting. It makes sense and I didn’t think it would be possible with so many different contributors participating.