Today we'll look at the structure that Adam Zagajewski, an excellent Polish poet, used in his poem "Try to Praise the Mutilated World" and use that as a jumping off point for a piece of your own.
Begin the poem or flash fiction piece with the phrase "Try to praise _________". Like Zagajewski, be sure that the thing you are praising isn't something that would normally be praised. Praising a lover's beauty is, let's just say it's for a different poem.
After a few lines or sentences (potentially beginning the next sentence/line with "Remember") Begin a line/sentence with "You must praise _________".
After a few more descriptions that flesh out the odd thing you are praising, pull back from the 'must' and begin a line with "You should praise __________".
And finally, after a few more descriptions, pull it back to the simply prescriptive "Praise ________" followed by a somber close. Or a bombastic close if that's what you've got in ya, buddy.
(Alternately, if that structure isn't speaking to you, perhaps write a vignette about an empty room that was recently bustling with action.)
