Topic 1: Sweet Like a Crow

This exercise is inspired by Michael Ondaatje's list poem, "Sweet Like a Crow." Notice that the entire poem is prefaced with "Your voice sounds like..." Your task is to take the persona of John Proctor and, using Abigail Williams as your subject, write a parody of this poem. Your poem doesn't need to be as long as Ondaatje's is; try for a minimum of 12 lines. As the voice of John Proctor you could choose to describe Abigail's voice or you could choose another aspect of her "charming" personality. Just like Ondaatje, avoid cliche. Write lines that are clever and original. **If you'd rather choose two different Crucible characters, that's fine too. Just tell us your 'subjects' before you begin. Have fun!

Your voice sounds like a scorpion being pushed
through a glass tube
like someone has just trod on a peacock
like wind howling in a coconutlike a rusty bible, like someone pulling barbed wire
across a stone courtyard, like a pig drowning,
a vattacka being fried
a bone shaking hands
a frog singing at Carnegie Hall.
Like a crow swimming in milk,
like a nose being hit by a mango
like the crowd at the Royal-Thornian match,
a womb full of twins, a pariah dogwith a magpie in its mouth
like the midnight jet from Casablancalike Air Pakistan curry,
a typewriter on fire,
like a spirit in the gaswhich cooks your dinner,
like a hundredpappadans being crunched, like someone
uselessly trying to light 3 Roses matches in a dark room,
the clicking sound of a reef when you put your head into the sea,
a dolphin reciting epic poetry to a sleepy audience,
the sound of a fan when someone throws brinjals at it,
like pineapples being sliced in the Pettah market
like betel juice hitting a butterfly in mid-air
like a whole village running naked onto the street
and tearing their sarongs, like an angry family
pushing a jeep out of the mud, like dirt on the needle,
like 8 sharks being carried on the back of a bicycle
like 3 old ladies locked in the lavatory
like the sound I heard when having an afternoon sleep
and someone walked through my room in ankle bracelets.

--Michael Ondaatje