Folded Paper Poem

I came across some poetry starters online and one in particular looked like it might have the potential to be an interesting exercise:

Fold a piece of paper in half and write "angel" on the top of one half and "gargoyle" on the top of the other half. Write a poem about each of the topics and unfold the paper to combine the poem.

I thought that this was a little silly--I had no desire to write about angels and gargoyles--maybe angels and demons...but even that is a bit too cliche. So I changed the exercise to be "flower" and "weed," as I had been thinking about weeds lately (and about how some weeds are really beautiful plants and how when we're kids they are all just flowers). So I gave it a whirl.

Some things to keep in mind with this exercise--keep track of about how many lines you write on the first side so you can match it up a bit. An extra line or two or three is ok, especially if you want one side to "win" over the other. Once you've written the poem, you may have to rearrange some lines and words for it to make sense in the end and bring across your desired meaning. I imagine you could do this exercise with lots of different linked opposites like: winter/summer, flood/drought, relaxed/stressed, etc...

Here's what I came up with for flower/weed (a photo and description of the weed chosen for the title follows the poem):

Spotted Knapweed

you are resilient
open—
capable and
soft-petaled

thriving in
exposed,
harsh conditions

accepting the sun and
overcoming
calling attention to yourself
among adverse surroundings:

“Look at me,
without rain,
I am
sturdy,
beautiful.”

"Spotted knapweed is an aggressive, introduced weed species that rapidly invades pasture, rangeland and fallow land and causes a serious decline in forage and crop production. The weed is a prolific seed producer with 1000 or more seeds per plant. Seed remains viable in the soil five years or more, so infestations may occur a number of years after vegetative plants have been eliminated. Spotted knapweed has few natural enemies and is consumed by livestock only when other vegetation is unavailable. The plant releases a toxin that reduces growth of forage species. Areas heavily infested with spotted knapweed often must be reseeded once the plant is controlled. " --according to Rodney G. Lym and Richard K. Zollinger from the North Dakota State University Agriculture Department