Here's an assignment I did for Poetical Books. We were to write an acrostic (first letters of the sentence A-Z) in the style of Lamentations 3. It refers to my first year at Boy Scout camp.
Muse rocks my world.
Joshua Jones
Poetical Books
Dr. Hummel
Oct. 13, 2006
Genre Assignment: Lamentations 6
All day long, I walked and walked, only to turn around and walk back with the Boy Scouts again.
Believe me, I would not have come to summer camp if I had only known.
College cafeterias put camp food to shame and this is my first time to leave my father's house.
Drought, dust and adolescent drama fill this place; O Lord, have mercy upon us.
Everyone wished they were here yesterday and wants to be back home today.
Forgotten are the weeks of excitement, the days of packing, the tiresome parting with family.
"Goodbye," said my mother; "Good times," said my father; "Good riddance," said my sister.
Hot and dry is this place; we faint because we cannot go in.
Ice and air conditioners are nowhere to be found.
Just like school, we pine everyday, learning of compasses, cougars and cooking.
Kindling a fire and watching it at night reminds me of stories with my youth group.
Looking at the flame, I am comforted and conscious of Your presence.
Many homesick boys cry for their mother, but you, O God, are always with me.
No amount of time, not even an eternal seven days, can age Your love for me.
On a mountain sunset, I cannot complain that You do not care for me.
Please help my tentmate to take a shower tonight.
Quietly I distance myself from him at reveille.
Reeking like a billy goat, he grins and refuses to bathe.
Sometimes I do not understand why we work summers, leave our homes, walk all week.
Talking of rapelling or rafting or rifle shooting does not concern our normal lives.
Under a distant sky, we bake and scheme and live out winter dreams.
Very often, we slap at mosquitoes and curse the heat.
Warriors can become discouraged and lose their resolve; so do we.
Xerxes had his Thermopylae.
Yet, in our sorrowful summer camp blues, we ask not to be forgotten.
Zealous Boy Scouts cannot always be downcast!
Lamentation Characteristics:
1.This lamentation is structured in acrostic form.
2.The description of problems includes more variety (Lamentation genre), lamenting a multitude of problems rather than one specific trouble (lament psalm); examples: the heat, a dirty tentmate, the dust, the uselessness of the camp classes.
3.Hope is featured only in the middle, relating to a campfire experience.
4.The acrostic form, references to classical generals and Boy Scout subject matter implies a more formal lamentation of troubles, involving the common complaints of many people, rather than the private outcry of an individual.
5.This lamentation is about a definite place and time (my first summer camp), a characteristic of Lamentations rather than a lament psalm.
Muse rocks my world.
Joshua Jones
Poetical Books
Dr. Hummel
Oct. 13, 2006
Genre Assignment: Lamentations 6
All day long, I walked and walked, only to turn around and walk back with the Boy Scouts again.
Believe me, I would not have come to summer camp if I had only known.
College cafeterias put camp food to shame and this is my first time to leave my father's house.
Drought, dust and adolescent drama fill this place; O Lord, have mercy upon us.
Everyone wished they were here yesterday and wants to be back home today.
Forgotten are the weeks of excitement, the days of packing, the tiresome parting with family.
"Goodbye," said my mother; "Good times," said my father; "Good riddance," said my sister.
Hot and dry is this place; we faint because we cannot go in.
Ice and air conditioners are nowhere to be found.
Just like school, we pine everyday, learning of compasses, cougars and cooking.
Kindling a fire and watching it at night reminds me of stories with my youth group.
Looking at the flame, I am comforted and conscious of Your presence.
Many homesick boys cry for their mother, but you, O God, are always with me.
No amount of time, not even an eternal seven days, can age Your love for me.
On a mountain sunset, I cannot complain that You do not care for me.
Please help my tentmate to take a shower tonight.
Quietly I distance myself from him at reveille.
Reeking like a billy goat, he grins and refuses to bathe.
Sometimes I do not understand why we work summers, leave our homes, walk all week.
Talking of rapelling or rafting or rifle shooting does not concern our normal lives.
Under a distant sky, we bake and scheme and live out winter dreams.
Very often, we slap at mosquitoes and curse the heat.
Warriors can become discouraged and lose their resolve; so do we.
Xerxes had his Thermopylae.
Yet, in our sorrowful summer camp blues, we ask not to be forgotten.
Zealous Boy Scouts cannot always be downcast!
Lamentation Characteristics:
1.This lamentation is structured in acrostic form.
2.The description of problems includes more variety (Lamentation genre), lamenting a multitude of problems rather than one specific trouble (lament psalm); examples: the heat, a dirty tentmate, the dust, the uselessness of the camp classes.
3.Hope is featured only in the middle, relating to a campfire experience.
4.The acrostic form, references to classical generals and Boy Scout subject matter implies a more formal lamentation of troubles, involving the common complaints of many people, rather than the private outcry of an individual.
5.This lamentation is about a definite place and time (my first summer camp), a characteristic of Lamentations rather than a lament psalm.
