Poetry Challenge #74-I Am From . . .
A few years back, we shared a prompt inspired by the I Am From Project, celebrating our unique voices through poetry (my summation of the project, not the official word.). The project’s goal was “to create a national river of voices, reminding America that diversity is our origin and our strength.” I Am From Project invited us—all of us—to share our stories and rejoice in the experiences—different and the same—that make us, U.S.
Poetry Challenge #74
The Stuff of Me
Write a poem describing where you are from, your ancestors, roots, family, and or your own personal journey.
Begin with the words:
Where I’m From . . .
“Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon
I am from clothespins,
from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.
I am from the dirt under the back porch.
(Black, glistening,
it tasted like beets.)
I am from the forsythia bush
the Dutch elm
whose long-gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.
I’m from fudge and eyeglasses,
from Imogene and Alafair.
I’m from the know-it-alls
and the pass-it-ons,
from Perk up! and Pipe down!
I’m from He restoreth my soul
with a cottonball lamb
and ten verses I can say myself.
I’m from Artemus and Billie’s Branch,
fried corn and strong coffee.
From the finger my grandfather lost
to the auger,
the eye my father shut to keep his sight.
Under my bed was a dress box
spilling old pictures,
a sift of lost faces
to drift beneath my dreams.
I am from those moments—
snapped before I budded —
leaf-fall from the family tree. ”
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 3200 days ago and counting . . . 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 in the comments.
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Poetry Challenge #71-Listing Up!
Find this list and more on Growing in the Garden website.
Spring is in full swing. Which for me means the frantic rush between post-winter clean up and pre-summer weeding & planting. A glorious time of year, but hectic—and the rest of life doesn’t slow when the garden goes into hypergrow either.
To keep up, I make lists (and borrow lists like this one.)
Lists are good. Checking items off lists is better.
Lists can help keep our “boats,” in the sometimes rough and rocky ocean, from well…listing and possibly crashing or sinking in the process…
What’s more, lists are easy, which makes them a great way to begin:
Poetry Challenge #71
Listing Up!
You can write list poems over and over with different results every time.
Begin with any topic and list things it makes you think of as quickly as you can.
Next go through the list and pick out one or more things that stick out for you.
Try making a list from the thing you picked out.
What does that thing make you think of?
Why did you pick it?
Add detail.
Use your senses.
Play with rhythm or rhyme.
Here are a couple prompts you can use to start if you want:
I like…
I wish I liked…
I remember…
Help! My peonies have fallen and can’t get up…in other words, they are listing, too!
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
*Cindy Faughnan and I resolved to begin this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 8 years 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 in the comments.
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Poetry Challenge #69-The Sound of Silence
I’m writing this in the wee small hours of the morning, when, as David Mann wrote, “the whole wide world is fast asleep (sing it Frank).
Schools and businesses are closed. There’s no traffic. The world is silent.
And that got me thinking: What exactly does silence sound like?
Poetry Challenge #69
The Sound of Silence
Write a poem that’s filled with silence. What images make you think of silence? What can you see and not hear?
Try using quiet sounds—s and l and w—for your words so your poem has a quiet sound to it.
Shhhhhhhhhhh. Listen.
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
The Sound of Silence Playlist: Simon & Garfunkle’s Sounds of Silence (Of course!)
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 8 years ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. (This prompt was 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 in the comments.
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Poetry Challenge #65-I Yam What I Yam
Shakespeare wrote 37 plays, 4 poems and 154 sonnets (that we know of). Of these, many of the plays and all 154 sonnets are written in iambic pentameter.
Popeye guzzled spinach from the can and sang one truly memorable song:
What do Shakespeare and Popeye have in common? “I Yam” as in I-Yam-bic Pentameter.
Iambic meaning that two-syllable soft-hard beat: “I-am” or “I-Yam”; Pentameter meaning five metrical feet, thus creating that singsong rhythm—da DA da DA da DA da DA da DA.
That pattern soft-HARD-soft-HARD-soft-HARD (like a horse gallop) is said to “fit the natural rhythms of English fairly well” in that it offers “enough structure to be memorable and enjoyable, without feeling sing-songy.”
Too, in Shakespeare’s case (and maybe Popeye’s creators, too) the words were intended to be memorize-able—as not many could read back then. And the rhythmic“I am/yam” set a jaunty beat that made memorization easier.
Image from Dan Poore’s Nov 11, 2013 post melding these two wordsmiths.
If Shakespeare and Popeye could do it, surely we can to.
Poetry Challenge #65
I Yam! Channeling Shakespeare/Popeye
Can you write a four-line rhyming stanza of iambic pentameter?
Or, in Popeye-ese, a four-lines, each one being five “I-Yam” long?
You can rhyme each pair of lines (AABB) or every other one (ABAB), whichever you choose.
Write on any subject you want or choose one of the prompts below.
I wish I could remember…
I love the smell of…
I’m waiting for…
Once you’ve got the rhythm, ala Shakespeare, try writing a complete 14-line sonnet.
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
*When you’re finished reward yourself with “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” from Kiss Me Kate.
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge about 3200 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).
Poetry Challenge #64-Just Ducky
Rubber Ducky you’re the one! Rubber Ducky so much fun….
Grandboys splish-splashing back when they could all fit in the same tub.
Beyond rumors of the ducky jeep phenom and our grands winning ducks at swim meets, I didn’t realize just how big the duck craze was until a trip to Croatia last fall when I spotted my first Duck Boutique in Dubrovnik. And another in Split. I wonder how many ducks a day must they sell to keep the lights on?
Stores full of ducks for sale! @duckboutique.croatia
We always have a rubber duck or two bobbing in the bubbles, but this is quackers!
How did this rubber duck craze start? I turned to Reader’s Digest for the answer.
As the story goes, in 2020, by way of thanking a friend for helping her “calm down” after a gas station altercation, Allison Parliament bought a bag of rubber duckies to hide around her friends house.
““Before those ducks were scattered around an unsuspecting friend’s home, however, Parliament put a single yellow duck on a stranger’s Jeep in the store’s parking lot, with a simple, sweet note saying “nice Jeep.”
The owner of that Jeep saw her and laughed then suggested that she post about it on social media. She did, and that was the birth of a movement that now has more than 73,000 fans (and growing) on Facebook.” ”
Turns out there are duck stores all over the world.
Isn’t that ducky? Definitely quackers!
Poetry Challenge #64
Just Ducky!
Write a poem about a Ducky Bubble Party using some or all of the following words:
Bub, Bubbles, Suds, Splash, Scrub, Soap, Splash and Duck
Extra points if it rhymes.
If you need inspiration, here’s Bobbie Darian with Splish-Splash!
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 about 3200 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).
Poetry Challenge #62-Please Pass the Peas!
Remember this joke:
What did the customer respond when the Pub server asked what they wanted?
Answer: Whirled Peas
Get it? (You may not, but it is what we all want—world peace.) Alas, that’s not what this challenge is about, but it could be… You decide!
Say “St. Patrick’s Day” and visions of Corned Beef, Cabbage, green applesauce—and Tums pop into my head.
Say “Thanksgiving” and the menu switches to crispy golden roasted turkey, cranberry, stuffing, creamy gravy and pie, glorious pie, dance though our heads.
Say “Summertime” and it’s all about fruit, fruit cobbler, fruit crisp, fruit swirls, fruit juice dripping from chins…and pie. (Anytime of year is all about pie.)
Peas and pie are what led to this prompt.
Poetry Challenge #62
Please Pass the Peas!
Take a moment to imagine your favorite feast. What foods are on your table?
If you’re like me, that feast is going to include…you guessed it: pie! Several kinds of pie.
Maybe even this four-layer PieCaken sis-in-law Valarie suggested we try, specially created for those of us who can’t decide which kind of pie to choose. It’s One layer of pumpkin, one spice cake, one pecan pie, frosted together with buttercream and topped with apple pie filling. Yum! https://www.oprah.com/food/whats-inside-a-piecaken
However . . .
The characters in Ethan Long’s picture book FANGSGIVING are definitely not traditional. However they kind of are as they served up pie, too—pumpkin pie with maggot meatballs thrown in.”
Now it’s your turn:
In the spirit of whirled peas, imagine you are some alternate reality or you are some other creature. An animal for instance, or an alien . . . or maybe even a monster! What would your favorite feast be?
Take a moment to imagine all the fantastical foods your creature would love. Whip those words into a feast of a poem!
For the title, fill in the blank with whatever creature you are:
Please Pass the _______________
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
YUMMY! (So is this book!)
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge at least 3100 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).
Poetry Challenge #63-Five Books High
Do you have a pile of books? I always have a stack that I want to read. Sometimes it grows so large I’m afraid it will fall on me and hurt!
Here’s a snap of the top 5 Picture Books on my to read/reread stack:
One solution to the overflowing book issue is to use them to solve decor issues (preferably after you’ve read them):
Or use all those books to solve housing issues…
Since, as the song goes “It never rains in Southern California…”
In San Diego and other places, tiny houses are a viable solution for the housing shortage—
Here are the top 5 books in Cindy’s to read stack. (Notice a difference?):
Poetry Challenge #63
Five Books High
For this prompt, take a look at a stack of five books or five books on a shelf—yours, mine, Cindy’s, someone else’s….
Take the first word (not A or THE) and write it down. Use these words in a poem.
Here is one poem resulting from our practice prompt. The selected words from books titles in that stack were: cool miracle spell tamed bird
And here’s the untitled poem:
Watching the sun go down
was a cool miracle,
a study in pink and orange and red,
a mystical spell
that tamed the world.
And like the evening bird,
we sang one last word.
Your turn!
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it. I’ll be waiting on my book couch…
Want more? Check out “10 Amazing Pieces of Furniture Made from Books” at Street Library
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge at least 3200 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).
Poetry Challenge #61-Riffing Off Queen
We Will, We Will ______(Fill in the blank).
If you finished that phrase with ROCK YOU then this post will be right up your alley.
If you didn’t then go directly to your viewing device of choice and watch Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic about Freddy Mercury and Queen.
Freddy Mercury at his Zenith
…”caught in a landslide, no escape from___________(another test).
Not to give anything away (we all know Queen was a success) a high point in the movie comes when the band is plays its first stadium concert. They look out over the crowd and realize everyone in the stadium is playing-singing-performing with them! According to the movie, this prompts Brian Mays to create songs for the audience to perform. And thus, the blockbuster anthem We Will Rock You came to be.
Whether you know the lyrics or not, everyone knows the rhythm:
stomp-stomp clap/stomp-stomp clap/baam-baam boom!
Poetry Challenge #61
Riffing Off Queen
Write a rhythmic poem about something that rocks you. Or, about a rock… or a rolling stone (if you like Dylan or the Stones better).
First, set that classic We Will Rock You rhythm in your head by actually, physically, pounding out the beat: stomp-stomp clap/stomp-stomp clap/baam-baam boom.
Continue pounding out the beat as you compose each line of the poem.
Who knows, you may create another best selling song—at least have fun trying! Rock on!
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 3200 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!