Poetry Challenge #86: Make Mine Chicago Style
On a flight from Chicago, munching Garrett’s Popcorn (the best part of O’Hare layovers), my bygone Chicago Blues popped into mind—specifically one night I heard Albert King play Crosscut Saw*. It’s nicknamed “that dirty blues song” but, it doesn’t have to be. That’s the challenge!
The Garrett’s Popcorn Kiosk at O’Hare Airport opposite gate B8
Poetry Challenge #86
Riffing Chicago Style
Chicago Style Blues started as musical improv, performers creating on the fly, riffing off each other, daring each other, challenging each other and themselves to come up with song verses that fit the pattern. A performer starts with one line that fits a beat. That line is then repeated. Then a third longer line finishes the stanza with a word that rhymes with the previous two. Simple as that—if you’re a smokin’ guitarist.
Here’s the opening stanza of Tommy McClennan’s Crosscut Saw as Albert King played it:
“Crosscut Saw
I’m a cross cut saw, Baby/ just drag me ‘cross your log I’m a cross cut saw, Baby/ just drag me across your log I cut your wood so easy, you can’t help but say ‘Hot dog!’”
It’s said, one reason the second line repeats the first, which is so much a part of traditional Blues, is to give performers creating on the fly, time to think of a rhyming last line. For fun, blues players toss the song around, challenging each other by taking turns coming up with new stanzas. Let’s give it a try. Here’s a template to get us started:
I’m a something or other, name, just doing something somewhere.
I’m a something or other, name, just doing something somewhere.
I verb the noun so easy, I’ll say or do something that fits and ends in a rhyme.
My Effort:
I’m a green frog, Henry, just sitting on a rock.
I’m a green frog, Henry, just sitting on a rock.
I’ll hop and croak so loudly, I’ll blast you off your dock.
Now that you’ve set a pattern, try stringing 2 or 3 stanzas together—or 5 for your own blues song.
Grab your air guitar and get Bluesy!
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
*From Wikipedia: "Crosscut Saw", or "Cross Cut Saw Blues" as it was first called, is a dirty blues song "that must have belonged to the general repertoire of the Delta blues".[1] The song was first released in 1941 by Mississippi bluesman Tommy McClennan and has since been interpreted by many blues artists.
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 3200-ish 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 in the comments.
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Poetry Challenge #85-Yes, You May!
What month is it where you are?
If you said “August” or “July” or “September” or “The eighth one.”
BOOOOONG! Wrong answer.
It’s May! It’s May! We declare it “Yes, You May” Month (or at least today, or right now, anyway.) 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. A
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. 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 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 dang poem. Scroll down and click on the comments!
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Poetry Challenge #82-Diamond in the Rough
“Square cut or pear shaped, these rocks don’t lose their shape”…take a listen; great lyrics!: https://youtu.be/KsRqhCWYfsQ?t=4
How are poems like diamonds?
Diamonds…gems/rocks/stones— come in many shapes, colors and sizes, and from there are cut, shaped and polished into heart’s desires. Poems begin as a jumble of words and from there are shaped to reflect heart’s desire.
Poetry Challenge #83
Diamond In the Rough
Write a diamond-shaped Diamante about something you value.
A Diamante is a diamond-shaped poem, simple as that.
Diamante poems begin with a one word or syllable line.
Each subsequent line grows longer by one than the previous line. The longest line is the mid-point of the poem.
From there, the lines decrease by one until reaching the last one word line.
The shortest Diamante has three lines of one syllable words.
Here’s a Diamante Frame if you prefer structure.
One
Two words
One
Once you have the words, polish your poem until it shines!
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 3200-ish 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 in the comments.
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Poetry Challenge #81-I’m Feeling List-Less
According to Psychology Today, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Let me count the ways”…wasn’t just pie-eyed, moonstruck rambling. It was good old-fashioned self care.
Make it stand out
According to Robert R. Kraft, PH.D in
“10 Benefits of Making a List”
Lists “help memory and focus our daily lives.”
HOW?????
“1. Lists document what we ordinarily forget.
2. Help us remember across context.
3. Act as a retrieval cue for other items.
4. The linear layout of a list is friendly to our serial processing.
...and the list goes on!”
List from Life Without Pants blog—add it to your list!
Poetry Challenge #81
Make a List
List making is not a new concept in organizing, in procrastinating, or in poetry.
Soooooo many poems are list poems: The Bill of Rights, Barrett’s “Sonnet 43,” Billy Collins’ “Bread and Knife,” Shel Silverstein’s “Eighteen Flavors” to name a few.
In a list poem, you can list things you like (animals, colors, kinds of cars, playground games), signs of a season, tasks you have to do, items in a category, or what you’re going to do today.
Today, try you pen at a list poem.
Begin with your plans for the day today. Or start with a list inspired by one of the ideas above.
Once you have your list, play with the order.
Choose better words that sound the same (maybe rhyme, or use alliteration).
Can you make the poem sound like it has an ending?
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 3200-ish 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 in the comments.
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Poetry Challenge #80-Scribbles
Really, would the tike in this pic do a naughty thing like that?
My love of writing can be traced back to when I was two-ish. As the story goes, I used my mom’s black mascara and lipstick to write on the neighbor's car! (And maybe blamed it on my brother… although he says I blamed it on him.) Nevertheless, a scribble is a scribble.
Early Childhood Educator, Anna Reyner, in “The Fine Art of Scribbling” wrote:
“Scribbling is the foundation of artistic development and is intimately linked with language acquisition.”
Rhoda Kellogg, an early champion of scribbling, analyzed over 1 million children’s drawing during a 20 year study. Kellogg concluded that
“Children need plenty of time for free drawing and scribbling to develop the symbols that will later become the basis for all writing and drawing.”
What say we roll back the clock to our pre-school days and scribble. Who knows what it might lead to…
A Nothing Scribble--or not…
Poetry Challenge #80
Scribble Something
Scratch around for something colorful to write with: crayons, markers, colored pencils . . . lipstick—whatever you can find—and a piece of paper. Hold the writing implement in your non-dominant hand, close your eyes, take a deep breath and focus on whatever comes to mind. Then open your eyes and scribble—preferably on the paper.
Try scribbling whatever came to mind. if it was nothing, then scribble nothing. Scribble with 2-year-old abandon for as long as you can—at least 30 seconds.
Now, hold your scribble arm’s length away. While squinting like an artist (a beret might come in handy here), look beyond your scribble to what you drew.
Write a poem about your scribble.
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
If you want to explore scribbles more, check out Diane Alber’s books/website.
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 3250 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 in the comments.
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Poetry Challenge #77-Heave-Ho!
Sing-Alongs are always challenging—and sometimes embarrassing—even for me. (And those of you who know me, know I love to sing—badly.) The worst is when someone sticks a microphone in my face and I don’t know the words. That’s when I resort to the trusty mumble-mumble-murmer-murmer— la-di-dah-daaaaaaaa
My Best Friend’s Wedding Classic!
Songwriters who like audiences who sing-along— pirate ship captives & those wanting tips, for example—make singing along easier by writing song with repeated refrains—the more often repeated the better. Which brings me to today’s prompt.
Poetry Challenge #77
Heave-Ho! Chant-She-Blows!
“The chant poem is about as old as poetry itself,” writes Robert Lee Brewer in his Oct. 23, 2012 post. “Chant poems simply incorporate repetitive lines that form a sort of chant. Each line can repeat [as they do in Blues’ songs], or every other line [as in a Sea Shanty].” Sailors sang shanties as they rowed or heaved on ropes to keep everyone working at the same pace. It’s believed “Shanty” is a morphism of “chanty” meaning both the type of song and a name for the sailor who leads the singing. By way of an example, below is a Chant Poem Cindy created.
“Snow fell this morning, soft and white and cold,
I was thinking of our bench in Central Park today.
I liked it more before I got so old,
I was thinking of our bench in Central Park today.
I left the city a long time ago,
I was thinking of our bench in Central Park today.
Now I hear sounds of birds—the caws of crows,
I was thinking of our bench in Central Park today.”
Follow these three easy steps to create your own Chant Poem—Or “Shanty” if you will!
Find a headline in a newspaper or magazine that you like the sound of. That will be your chant.
Write a four line rhyming poem where the first 2 lines rhyme and the last 2. AABB
Insert the chant between each line of your rhyming poem and you have a chant poem.
“They know a song will help the job along…”
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 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 poem in the comments.
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Poetry Challenge #75-Scramble Poetry
Have you played a game where you’re given some letters and you have to see how many words you can make out of them? Bananagrams and Scrabble are two family favorites. For today’s prompt, let’s start there and push it further.
Poetry Challenge #75
Anagram Poetry
For today’s poem, begin with a title. Create a poem from words you can make by rearranging the letters in the title.
You might want to spend a few minutes listing words ala an anagram game before you start writing.
Come up with your own title or use one of these:
A Walk in the Garden
Birds Fly over My House
The Bus is Late--Again
Snow Falls in Silent Forests
Here’s Cindy’s attempt:
“The Last Time I Went to Town
The last time
I went to town,
the lawn was mown.
I lost a shoe,
the steam was mean.
It went to
a test to see what the mist meant.
Now was the time to stow meat low.
In the lost mantle, I settle.”
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 3000 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 and be sure to tag @kellybennettwrites
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Poetry Challenge #73-Contrapuntality of Life
I love music, love singing, love listening—am lousy at playing music. Yes, I’ve tried. I took piano lessons from 13-17 and finally, when I could not grasp the concept of “chords” my teacher wrote me off as hopeless. But that doesn’t stop me! (My current challenge is a ukulele…I’m trying to learn using the “think system” ala Prof. Harold Hill.)
Poetry Challenge #73
Contrapuntality of Life
Contrapuntal is defined as two or more independent melodic lines in music. You can write a contrapuntal poem by combining two independent poems—one line of one and then one line of another. Try it!
1) Find two poems you’ve written that are of a similar length.
2) Alternate your poems by writing one line of one and then one line of the other. If it doesn’t seem to be working, try it using the opposite one first.
3) Change what you need to change to make sense. Sometimes that’s just capital letters and punctuation, but sometimes you might need to add or delete a word.
Here’s what came of Cindy melding two poems.
“I could have made dinner tonight, but instead
alone with the elements of craft,
I read a good book and cleaned under the bed.
I wonder why
I sorted my yarn and picked up the craft table
to grow this garden better.
I folded the laundry and now I’m not able
to cook any food.
Outside the window, there’s crackers and cheese
and fruit if you like.
I see my history.
I’ll have some please.”
Now it’s your turn!
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
Langston Hughes’ collection of Jazz poetry—did it come from exercises like these? I like to think so!
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 8 years ago. We 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 on my social @kellybennettwrites.