I have grown as a poet in that I have gained a better sense of how I can use my

words. Ive always had a large selection of words. The usage and analysis of poetic
devices assisted me in making that selection count. What use is all the ammo in the
world when you dont have a gun?
My perspective has shifted in focus. At the beginning, I was taking a very broad,
generalized perspective that covered Peace, Power, Truth, War, and Violence. As I
worked further down the line, I tried to make it more meaningful, impacting the heart of
the issue I wanted to cover.
The first major change I made in my poem was switching from acrostic,
Yelling
Over and over
Understand the meaning of these weapons!
Ready to strike again
to a more lyrical format, with more focus on the rhyme, and the prosaic style behind the
rhyme, with heavy influence from Kipling, which led to the results below.
As higher rise the missiles,
spiraling and trailing off into the smoke,
so rise the fists to the words the leader spoke.
Like dangerous death epistles,
Ruin and hellfire they evoke.
This shift led to what I felt was a more mature sensation coming from my poem, and
made it feel less cheesy.
Another shift in my poem, something of a minor one, but one I felt was inspired
never-the-less, came about during the peer critiques. It was suggested in the peer
critiques that I replace the sole in
His words are weapons sharp,
and his sole motive is power
And though his people cower
He plays a most angelic harp
As all approach the end-hour
with soul. This appealed to my sense of a good pun, as well as cut to the heart of the
topic. It created the sense that the thing being described was innately thirsty for power,
that it was a part of the thing. This slight change deepened the poem in a way that I
couldve accomplished with another stanza normally.
The last of the three important modifications to my poem occurred through the
idea of a story. I really wanted to tell a story with my poem, as poetry and story were not
something I associated prior to this project. As such, I began with a rather over-the-top
and melodramatic theme for my acrostic (PHONE YOUR MOTHER BEFORE YOU
SEE THE END), which I then worked on condensing and reshaping into my final
ABBAB rhyme format. I feel this shift in format, this condensation, was the final hurdle to
getting my poem-story where I wanted it. It read like a traditional narrative, like Horatius
at the gate. And that was what I wanted.