A poem (it’s about Jay Gatsby)

So one of the cool things about being a high school teacher is I get to assign creative writing pieces, which I then get to complete along with my students. I know, tricky, right? A couple weeks back, I asked my juniors to write a poem inspired by The Great Gatsby. Theirs turned out great, but the poem I wrote turned out pretty good, too, so I thought I’d share. Feel free to comment!

“Akeldama”

I sold my name for this silver dream,
in the dim belief
that the golden girl,
who moves like music,
her voice quivering like water
reflected in a golden bowl,
would slake her restless thirst
in the fountain I constructed
from the wealth I would squander
in an instant for her warm hand
pressed into my damp palm.

But now, our future spills forth
like blood from a chest wound,
hemorrhaging in thick crimson spurts,
an edifice of illusory hope
buried under a gray cloud
of ashen ruin.