heart of a champion

Having a heart of a champion when he came out of the womb
A youngster with determination and focus
Created as a prodigy ready to bloom

He was thrown into situations to meet doom
People trying to hold him back like mucous
Having a heart of a champion when he came out of the womb

But there is something missing in his life that has him stuck in a dark room
He feels as if there is a spell put upon him like some hocus-pocus
Created as a prodigy ready to bloom

A simple four-letter word that puts him in a gloom
Has him going crazy like a clown in the circus
Having a heart of a champion when he came out of the womb

Running over and sucking the happiness out of him like a vacuum
Head in a state that he feel concuss
Created as a prodigy ready to bloom

Waiting for it to hit him like boom
‘Cause if it misses, feeling will leave his body like a dead carcass
Having a heart of a champion when he came out of the womb
Created as a prodigy ready to bloom.

by Greg Price

Written in Joslyn Wolfe’s English 11.

Assignment: Students were asked to identify the structure and organization of a villanelle. They then wrote a villanelle as a way to interpret and respond critically to aspects of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.