7-Minute Poetry Challenge #20-We are the Balloon
Intake! Outtake!
Writing…even poetry… is like taking a ride in a hot air balloon—soaring up! uP! UP!
If we think of the product— the words, the thoughts, the story—as the basket, then we, the creator are the. . .
Balloon
Make it stand out
Which means, due to changes in elevation, exertion, weather…
or maybe a tear or leaky value, we all need a refill.
An infusion of fresh air. That’s why today is . . .
Memorize a Poem Day!
Reading poems helps you feel the rhythm and rhyme (if there is one) and forces you to look at each word more closely. Reading poetry fills you with fresh ideas, fresh ways of writing, of thinking about creating.
When you memorize a poem, you internalize it—really take it inside—like you are sucking in deep, refreshing gulps of fresh air!
Once you’ve memorized a poem, it’s stored in a tiny secret pocket of your brain. You can pull it out whenever you want, recite it to get through a tough time, put someone—maybe yourself—to sleep, inspire, remind…Amazing the uses!
Poetry Challenge #20
We Are the Balloon
Today, instead of writing a new poem, read some favorites and pick a verse or two or the whole thing to memorize.
Say it aloud!
Say it in your head!
Say it while walking or doing chores or waiting in line.
Some of favorite poems—and ones Cindy knows some or all of—include C.S. Lewis’s “The Walrus and the Carpenter”, lots of Robert Frost (“Fire and Ice”, “The Road Not Taken”, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”), Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shallot”, Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge at least 2800 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole dang poem. Scroll down and click on the comments!
Want the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge sent to your email? Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .
7-Minute Poetry Challenge #18-Moody Blues
In the mood? Not in the mood?
What gets you in the mood?
It’s sort of a Catch 22 question isn’t it?
Frankly, deciding what will get me in the mood depends on what I want to be gotten into the mood for?
That’s true for most of us, right? You know what else is true…
Our moods can be changed, affected, swayed, moved by tone.
I call this image “Moody Blues.” Get it?
Poetry Challenge #18
Moody Blues
Pick two vowel sounds. Make a list of words that use each sound.
Write two verses of a poem—use one vowel sound in one verse and the other in the second. Try to use that chosen vowel sound it in as many words as you can in the verse.
What mood does each sound create for your poem?
Do you want your end words for each line to rhyme or not?
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
Moody Blues Playlist:
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge at least 2800 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole dang poem. Scroll down and click on the comments!
Want the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge sent to your email? Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .
7-Minute Poetry Challenge #16-You Call This Cold!
Thanks for saying YES! to this Challenge! (or at least to looking at it…) In case you have qualms about the value of SSSSSTTTREEEEEETCH read what gazillion-times published author Jane Yolen writes about her ongoing poetry challenge. (BTW: Did you know you could read a different one of Jane's books every day for a YEAR!)
“I started writing a poem a day seven years ago as a personal challenge. I didn’t expect to be happy with any poem on the first draft. But I did it for three reasons: 1. Finger exercises 2. Brain exercise 3. Sales: This was an unforeseen plus. I’ve gotten at least a half dozen picture books out of those poems and sold a hundred or more to journals and anthologies, and used them in books of my own. My writing had taken a huge step forward. I have no plans to stop.”
Poetry Challenge #16
If You Think This is Cold…
Brrrrrrrrrrrrr! If you, like me, are feeling a bit chilly today, when after a few glorious bright spring days, it’s back to gray. It’s time for a refresher.
If you’re not:
Go to the refrigerator
Stick your head inside the freezer compartment.
Now you’re ready!
Write a poem about the cold.
Begin with the line:
“You know it’s cold when…”
Think of all the things that make you know it’s cold. Hope you’re wrapped up in a blanket!!
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge at least 2800 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole dang poem. Scroll down and click on the comments!
Can You Say COLD? Playlist:
Baby It's Cold Outside: Idina Menzel & Michael Buble's Sweet Video
Want the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge sent to your email? Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .
Poetry Challenge #9-Time for a Cool Change
The Spring Clock is ticking! Blossoms are busting out all over North America! It’s almost time. This Sunday, March 10, Daylight Savings Time 2024 begins.
Saturday night tick-tock change your clocks! Spring Forward!
Once the clocks reach 2 a.m. CST, they will "spring" forward to 3 a.m.
(Or if you live in the few places in the US that don’t Spring Forward take note.)
If you wonder why these places don’t observe DST, here’s the reason. As for the rest of us . . .
Yes! Daylight Savings Time, Spring Forward does mean you’ll lose an hour of sleep…
. . . But you will also gain an hour to what???
Poetry Challenge #10
Time for a Cool Change
Spring is a time of change, regrowth, renewal.
When you think of spring changes that are coming…or changes you might make…what springs to mind?
Let’s celebrate by crafting a five-line pyramid poem.
A Pyramid Poem is a five-line poem, growing in line length, 1-2-3-4-5, so the finished poem is shaped like a pyramid. That’s it…
But not so fast! We’ve added some specific instructions for each line. (Note: by definition a Pyramid Poem doesn’t have to have these specifics, but we’re changing things up.)
Line 1: 1 word (a noun)
Line 2: 2 words (include a description)
Line 3: 3 words (include sensory)
Line 4: 4 words (include action)
Line 5: 5 words (surprise)
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
For inspiration here’s the Little River Band singing “Time for a Cool Change.”
Want the Poetry Challenge sent to your email? Click on SUBSCRIBE to receive email notification when entries are posted on Kelly's Fishbowl.
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2700+ days ago. Now we take turns creating prompts to share with you. Our hope is that creatives—children & adults—will use our prompts as springboards to word play time. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
Poetry Challenge #1-First Things First
I've got a proposition for you. A challenge. A dare. AGAIN!
Three hundred and twenty-nine weeks ago, we began sharing the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge with you all, dear subscribers & friends. Some of you have taken up the gauntlet and joined us in the committing 7 minutes a day (sometimes less, sometimes more) to giving the sometimes stagnant creativity pot a stir.
Some have even shared them.
But few if any of you, Cindy and myself aside, even saw those early Challenges (called The Seven Minute Stretch Back then.) So, to kick off a brand new year of creative living, quixotically on the 2nd week of 2024 we are giving those early prompts and second go around. Looking forward to seeing what we—and YOU—come up with!
First things first—Challenge Rules:
Read the prompt.
Set the timer
Write a poem, a paragraph or a story —creator’s choice!
Don't think about it too much; just do it. If the prompt moves you, follow it. If it sparks something else, go with it! Our 7-Minute Poetry Challenge is not about writing great poetry; or writing what is expected; it's not even about writing anything good. It's about one thing, writing IT!
Gavin & Keira's 1st Day of School 2017
Gavin & Keira (yes the same now bigguns featured in last week’s Christmas jammies post: Festival of Sleep) were our guinea pigs for that first shared 7-Minute Challenge, Sept. 6, 2017. Weren’t they cute!
For a treat, you’ll find a snap of Keira and Gavin’s results afterwards. But first, the prompt:
Poetry Challenge #1
The First Day
On the first day of school what things do you bring? A backpack? Pen? Paper? Maybe you’ll wear a new pair of jeans or shoes?
Think about it: Not only will it be your first day of school, it will be that “things” first day of school too. How do you think those “things” feel about going to school for the first time? Write a “First Day of School” poem from the point of view of one of those things.
Note: It can be the first day of anything. Just tell the story from the point of view of one of the thing you bring with you that first day.
For Inspiration read: SCHOOL'S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL by Adam Rex, illus. by Christian Robinson (Roaring Brook Press, 2016), the story of the first day of school as told by Fredrick Douglass Elementary—a brand new school building!
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, Write It!
And now the promised treat: Gavin's Binder shared. Keira's dress was "shy" on that first day:
Happy Creating! We look forward to reading you!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2700+ days ago. Now we take turns creating prompts to share with you. Our hope is that creatives—children & adults—will use our prompts as springboards to word play time. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .
Poetry Challenge #85-Yes, You May!
It’s May! It’s May! Flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, grass is growing, trees are branching out—and so are we! Hooray! Hooray!
Ring around the May Pole
Taking a cue from the musical Camelot’s Lusty Month of May song, in which merrymakers prance about singing “It’s May! It’s May! The month of Yes, You May!” we’re giving ourselves permission to break a few rules.
Poetry Challenge #85*
“Yes, You May!”
With “Yes, You May” as the title, write a poem giving someone (or something)—maybe yourself—permission to be naughty, mischievous, daring—in other words, to do something he, she, it—YOU—would never, ever do. As this poem is a celebration of May, use flowery, colorful, provocative language. And, if you’re in the mood to be extra daring, give permission to go all out by having every line begin with “Yes, You May” . . .
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
As if you need permission
“Yes, You May!” Playlist:
Lusty Month of May from Lerner & Lowe’s Camelot
*Full disclosure: This is a repeat of #33. We had so much fun we decided to do it again, because…We Can!
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 750 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole dang poem. Scroll down and click on the comments!
Want the 7-Minute Stretch sent to your email? Click on SUBSCRIBE to receive email notification when entries are posted on Kelly's Fishbowl
Poetry Challenge #37-Put Me In Coach!
The “Kansas Comet,” Gayle Sayers, considered “one of the greatest players in NFL history,” was born on May 30, 1943.
(I don’t recall ever actually seeing Gayle Sayers play. In my mind he’s Billy D. Williams from the 1971 movie Brian’s Song. If you haven’t seen it, you should—bring tissues.)
Sayer, who played for the Chicago Bears, said, “I had a style all my own. The way I ran, lurchy, herky-jerky, I kept people off-guard…”
“Lurchy, herky-jerky” works! Football fans take note: For the record, Sayer piled up “4,956 yards rushing in his 68-game career and was voted to four Pro Bowls. Sayers scored 22 touchdowns and 132 points in his first season, both then-rookie records.”
Poetry Challenge #37
Put Me in Coach
Write a poem about football in your own “Lurchy, herky-jerky style.”
Or . . .
Write a poem to the “Coach” of your imagination asking to be “Put in” to something you really, really, really want.
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 800 days ago! We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem. Scroll down and click on the comments!
Want the 7-Minute Stretch sent to your email? Click on SUBSCRIBE to receive email notification when entries are posted on Kelly's Fishbowl
Poetry Challenge #36-In Memory of...Bees
Today as I was walking through the field, I noticed bees drunk with happiness, rolling on the golden yellow dandelions. So many flowers! So much nectar! So many bees!
I was about ten years old when I experienced my first bee sting. I stepped (barefoot) on a bee in the driveway, jumped with the surprise and ouch of the sting on my toe, and my leg swelled up above my knee! I remember earlier bees than that, too: the bees that chased my next door neighbor when she poked a stick into their ground nest, the little boy from down the street who rode his bike through a swarm of bees and ran into our house to get away from them. So many memories, so many stories, all from one word: BEES.
Poetry Challenge #36
In Memory of . . . Bees
Now it’s your turn. What do you think of when you think of bees? Is it an experience you had with them? A lazy, buzzing, summer day? A fascination with the way they live? Write a poem/story about bees. You might try to write a paragraph first, and then cut it the way we did in Challenge #26. Maybe cut it by half the words. Then another half. Add so it makes sense. Play with rhythm and maybe rhyme.
Get buzzzzzzzy!
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 800 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. (This one is Cindy's idea.) If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem. Scroll down and click on the comments!