Poetry Challenge #146-You Scream, I Scream
Even when it’s FREEZING outside, ask “Who wants ice cream?” And everyone screams “I do-I do!” Everyone but me that seems. That being said, there is a vacant restaurant on a prime corner a few blocks from me that would make a primo ice cream shop…
Poetry Challenge #146
We All Scream for Ice Cream
Pretend you are the one opening that new ice cream shop up the block. What flavors would you offer? If you made up a new flavor, what kind would it be? No combination is off limits…at least not until it’s taste tested.
What’ll it be: mashed potato ice cream, beer ice cream, olive oil ice cream, buffalo wing ice cream, goat cheese ice cream or candied bacon ice cream? Yum!
Write an luscious, creamy, delish poem featuring your dream ice cream.
Make us taste it, feel it, want it! Make our mouths water!
Set your timer for 7 minutes
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it!
I’ll take two scoops!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge so many scoops ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. 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 below and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FISHBOWL
Poetry Challenge #145-Too Darn HOT
Some days it’s just too darn HOT! So hot you stick to every chair. So hot you can’t move. So hot it feels like you’re melting. (Okay, maybe not today, but pretend. Or microwave your tepid coffee for a bit too long…)
Writers use figurative language to convey feeling. They compare things in new and unusual ways. Similes are comparisons using “like” or “as”. Metaphors are comparisons that don’t have to use “like” or “as”. Hyperbole is exaggeration.
Poetry Challenge #145
IT’S TOO DARN HOT!
Try writing a poem describing how hot it is without using the word “hot”.
Use figurative language to show what hot feels like, smells like, tastes like, sounds like.
To help you get started, think of ways to finish this sentence—and then leave out the prompt.
You know it’s hot when…
Set your timer for 7 minutes
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it!
In case it’s not quite toasty enough where you are, here’s a song:
Too Darn Hot by Cole Porter, sung by Anthony Strong:
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge so many hot-cold-tepid days ago! We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. 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 below and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FISHBOWL
Poetry Challenge #144.5-Trick or Treat
Trick or Treat!
Smell my feet
Give me something good to eat!
I am totally bummed about Halloween at my house.
Why?
Because no matter how many pumpkins, ghosts, lanterns and lights I use to line our path, No one ever comes Trick or Treating….
And we are a family who loves dressing up for Halloween!
We are not, however, going to let this lack of Trick-or-Treatability keep us from having our Halloween happy!
Poetry Challenge #144.5
Trick-or-Treat
Write a poem about Halloween night with Trick-or Treaters, ghosts, goblins, pumpkins . . . all the spooky, kooky you imagine! (Gross or ghoulish, guts and gory…writer’s choice, but please don’t bore me.)
And when you’re finished writing a poem, you will absolutely deserve extra Treats!
Some folks wear their costumes all year.
Set your 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 8 Halloween’s ago! We take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. 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 below and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FISHBOWL
Poetry Challenge #143-Click My Bic
There’s a saying: “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Before ballpoint pens, people used fountain pens—pens that needed to be dipped or refilled with ink and whose sharp points worked only on paper. If you wanted to write on any other surface (wood, coarse wrapping paper, leather) you were out of luck.
The first patent for the ballpoint pen was issued in 1888 to John J. Loud, a leather tanner who often needed to write on the leather. This pen had a metal ball for the point (where it got its name!) that couldn’t fall out or in but rolled on the surface. It worked well on leather but was pretty messy on paper. Many years passed before the Biro brothers found a solution for a new sharper point.
June 10, 1943, recognized as National Ballpoint Pen Day is actually the date Laszlo Brio applied for a fresh patent for their ballpoint pen design. What made it fly was the British Government bought the licensing rights for the war effort as they needed a pen that would not leak at higher altitudes. It wasn’t until many leaky pen efforts later, in 1954, when Parker Parker Pens introduced “the Jotter,” that ballpoint pens became popular.
Poetry Challenge #143
All I Do Is Click My Bic!
Write a poem about your favorite pen (and if possible, use your favorite pen to “pen it!”)
Is your favorite pen a ballpoint? Or some other kind? What does it feel like? What does it look like? What color does it write? What’s the best thing it has ever written?
Set your 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 so much spilled ink ago! And, we take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. 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 below and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FISHBOWL
Poetry Challenge #142-Can You Repeat That?
“Play it again, Sam!”
Today is not National Repeat Day! (What? Care to repeat that?) Today is not National Repeat Day. I repeat it is not the “day [officially] set aside for folks to ‘seek out activities and experiences’ to do over again. (Not on the list: Root canals and Nor’esters...)
Regardless of the day, this challenge begged to be repeated…and so we are. If you happened to have tried it when we originally shared it—over 4 years ago—then it’s been long enough.
Let’s do it . . . again!
As the saying goes “If it’s worth doing once; it’s worth doing again.” Or if you’d prefer Bogie: “Play it again, Sam!” (Even though, in Casablanca, he never actually said that.)
Poetry Challenge #142
Can You Repeat That? . . . “That”
Repetition can be used in poetry in many ways. You can repeat a sound like a long o sound or an l or t sound.
You can repeat a word several times in the poem like the word “bells” in a famous poem by Edgar Allan Poe.
You can repeat a phrase or a whole line. Or you can repeat a verse like the refrain in a song.
Choose a way to repeat from the list above and write a poem that uses some repetition.
Set your timer for 7 minutes
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it!
just do it! just do it! just do it! just do it! just do it!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge about 3500 days ago. We like it so much, we couldn’t resist creating our own prompts to share with you. 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 below and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FISHBOWL
Poetry Challenge #141-Popsicles!
It rarely freezes in San Francisco, but boy, when it does . . . Grape Popsicle!
Here’s the story: in 1905, 11-year old Frank Epperson “was outside on his porch, mixing water with a powdered flavoring to make soda. Upon going inside, he left it there on the porch with the stirring stick still in it. That night something that rarely ever happens in San Francisco happened: temps dipped below freezing! The following morning, Frank discovered the drink frozen to the stick.”—NPR July 22, 2015
Popsicles are now as much a part of summertime as, well, the sun! Who hasn’t sat on the steps hot afternoons slurping ice treats? Trying to catch the sweet syrup as it dripped down your hand. Or maybe you’ve made your own popsicles, the way we did. We used to fill ice cube trays with whatever sweet drink was on hand: cola, root beer, Kool aid, lemonade—and yes sometimes grape juice—stick in toothpicks for sticks and wha-lah! What about you? What memories come to mind when you think of popsicles? What was your favorite flavor? Grape?
Poetry Challenge #141
Popsicle Daze
By way of bidding farewell to Ice Cream Truck season, write a Tongue Twister about Popsicles. A tongue twister is a phrase that’s hard to say multiple times in quick succession or sometimes even once.
ISally sells seashells by the sea shore and Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers are two tried trustworthy tongue twisters.
Tongue Twister Tips:
There are three key elements in the twistiest tongue twister: alliteration, consonance & confusion.
· Alliteration: words that begin with the same-sound. Lucky Lucy liked_____tricky twisters twist ____.
· Consonance: repeated consonants within a word or phrase. Think "pitter patter" “slippy splinter splitter”…
· Confusion: Fool the rear’s eye (with misspellings like this) and trip up their tongue with consonant combinations that are almost the same, but not… as in soldier’s shoulder or chains clang. And change the endings of words—s ending are really slippery.
With these elements in mind, begin by brainstorming phrases that come to mind with you say grape or popsicle.
Listen . . . I think I hear the ice cream truck now!
Set your 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 cartoons of Popsicle BRAIN FREEZE ago. We take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. 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 below and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FISHBOWL
Poetry Challenge #140-ARRRRROOOOO! for Rescue Dogs!
Our daughter’s family adopted a rescue dog this summer—which means WE also adopted a dog, because where they go, Bucky goes. (She’s our second grandpup…I’ll show you mine if you show me yours…) Turns out, Bucky is a a bit of a chewer, and to my gardens dismay, a digger…luckily she is charming!
So, this one’s for Bucky!
Poetry Challenge #140
ARRRRROOOOO! for Rescue Dogs!
Write an ode to a rescue dog. An ode is short poem praising something. Think about what that rescue dog looks like, acts like, sounds like, anything that makes the dog special. Or maybe focus on that dog’s life before it was rescued.
You can write it to your dog friend if you want!
Set your timer for 7 minutes
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it!
Along with writing an ode to rescue dogs, here are other ways to celebrate & share the “puppy love.” How’s about a big ARRRRROOOOOO Donny Osmond style! Here’s the link to Puppy Love
*Tails that Teach mission is to spread the word about how “rescue dogs become a part of the human family and increase awareness about the number of dogs in shelters.” Here are some ways you can help:
Volunteer at your local shelter. Taking dogs for walks, grooming and giving them plenty of affection improves their socialization.
Shelters always need donations. Financial donations are always welcome. Most shelters have a list of constant needs, such as blankets, bleach, toys, treats, and leashes.
If there is room in your life for a rescue dog, consider adoption and giving one a forever home.
Consider fostering. Many dogs abandoned to shelters require some medical care or rehabilitation in a home setting before an adoption can take place.
Remember to spay and neuter your pets. Overpopulation is the number one reason shelters exist.
Trick your old dog into thinking it’s new with treats like these vitamins from topdogvitamins.com
Share your Ode to A Rescue Dog on social media, use #NationalRescueDogDay
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge countless dog years ago. We take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. 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 below and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FISHBOWL
Poetry Challenge #139-It Jumped How Far?
As long as toad have been croaking, frogs (and kids) have been jump-jump-jumping!
And, every May 13th, in honor of Mark Twain’s first published short story, Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog (better known as The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County or The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County) folks have been celebrating frog jumping day.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, The longest frog jump record is “1.21 m (3 ft 11.64 in) and was achieved by Noa Möller (Sweden) at Palatset in Stockhom, Sweden, on 19 November 2011.” However, when I gave it a Google, the longest from jump on file is 21 feet, 5¾ inches, set by a bullfrog named Rosie the Ribeter in 1986. (If you, dear reader, can sort that record business out, keep us posted.)
Here’s what I know for sure: the 2026 Calaveras County Fair & Jumping Frog Jubilee winner was 88-year-old Lillian Fasano, who won with a total jump of 19 feet, 2 and 1/4 inches using a frog named "Fuzzy.
Seeing a frog jump that far is surely the stuff of poetry!
Poetry Challenge #139
It Jumped How Far?
Let’s invoke the spirit of Mark Twain or Fuzzy by writing a hyperbolic poem about a long-high-far jumping frog, or a person who jumps like a frog, or a frog-jumping contest—creator’s choice.
Hyperbole means “gross exaggeration for effect” so we’re not talking tiny hops, make those frog JUMP!
See how many words for jump you can include in the poem. And don’t forget to add in a ribbit or three!
Set your timer for 7 minutes
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just RIBBIT! (That means “do it!” in frog.)
Cindy Faughnan and I create began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge thousands of frog hops ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. 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.