Sign up and log into this forum using your McMaster email/ID. Then, post a one stanza follow-up to the preceding post, adding to the collaborative poem (learn more about how this works here) that we're developing together. You can contribute multiple times, but just not with one post after another.
The poem ends either when a collaborator feels as if we've reached a natural point where they can write the conclusion, or the deadline of February 21 has passed—whichever comes first.
What are you waiting for? Adding to the chain should only take a few minutes, and the draw of the prize aside, you'll also be making your mark in a cool, collaborative project that'll act as a time capsule for how the McMaster community connected through our creativity during these COVID times.
The first writer can start with one stanza of whatever they'd like, with the following picture as a guiding prompt and a reminder that the poem's name will be 'Toxicity' (inspired by Oxford's 2018 Word of the Year!). This poem will be in free verse, to give you some space for personal touches.

I do not want
to be free
when the foil
faces me
Showing red
red lens
red lips
red touch
I'll chew the gum
swallow some
never spitting
it out
my mind
a graveyard
she buries memories
of the times we spent together
decay turns them to monsters
and when it rains
water droplets glisten against my lips
dulling the taste
of licking the copper pot
i've tasted this before
before
you smile with teeth
that are scattered like broken bones
and before
i know
i
will never
be free
alien blood
drip
drip
drips
down the drain
you're killing me
from the inside
slowly
slowly
who are you
to define me from inside?
who are you to leave
right when i can't face the light?
neon signs glow
but i can't let you go
i've tasted this before
before
before
i am still
bitter on the inside.
my skin is lush and
sweet but
in the back of my throat
bitter lingers
acid laces
my esophagus
as
you crawl out from
the depth of my
guts
dripping venom onto
my tongue
crinkled memory
unfolded like
gum wrappers
i chew
again
and again
the way you fit
in my mouth
i've tasted this before
before
before