Fin Pal asks Norman "Are You Famous?"
Have you read the Norman the Goldfish books, NOT NORMAN and NORMAN ONE AMAZING GOLDFISH? Have your friends read them? (They are available in your library and bookstores.)
So then, what do you think Norman will say? Is he famous?
Ready to read Norman’s answer? Scroll down . . .
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
But first a finny!
Q: Why did the burglar try to steal Norman?
Q: Why did the burglar steal the goldfish?
A: Because Norman is 100% pure gold! Get it? Norman the Goldfish!
Do you have a question for Norman the Goldfish- about friends, school, pets, family, life in and outside the fishbowl? Send him a letter!
Don’t forget to order your copy of NOT NORMAN: A GOLDFISH STORY and NORMAN: ONE AMAZING GOLDFISH!!
Poetry Challenge #268-Playing with Lines
I recall a few truths about lines from Geometry 101: A line can move in both directions; it has no beginning and no end with an endless number of points in between.
I saw these truths in black on white during a recent field trip to Governor’s Island* where artist Shantell Martin’s black line scribbles transformed Our Lady Star, a former Catholic Church now decommissioned Military Chapel, into art of endless possibility.
Shantell Martin plays with lines, curving, bending them, twisting them into ideas, figures, words—remind us we can too!
Poetry Challenge #268
Playing with Lines
Recently on Twitter someone quoted the following line**, set up as a poem:
do what you love
and you’ll never
work a day
in your life
People were asked to replace the first and third lines to make a new poem. For example:
use doritos as forks
and you’ll never
wash a fork
in your life
Your turn! Rewrite the above poem with your own new first and third line. Then choose another saying by Confucius, write it as a 4-line poem, and replace that first and third line. You can search for your own Confucius saying or use one of these:
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.
They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.
Ala Judith Kerman, choose a word, any word and define that word in a poem. You might choose a more abstract word, as Judith did in “Air” or you might choose a concrete word as in her poem, “Elephant.” (Scroll down for the YouTube of Judith reading “Elephant.”)
Include as many possible definitions of the word as possible—feel free to use a dictionary. And bust out with your own definitions of the word.
Form-wise you might choose to simply list definitions ala Webster, as in “Air,” or shape them into Free Verse as in “Elephant,” or choose some other poetic form.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just write It!
*Govenor’s Island is a 178 public space in the heart of New York Harbor, just a short FREE Ferry ride from Manhattan. It’s open year-round and is a delightful place to walk, ride bikes, laze—there’s a grand junkyard playground, a “formal” tidy playground, learning garden, food, a day SPA, a FREE Art Center, way cool “deserted” former Military housing and forts, Glamping—and a hill to climb—not high—with the most glorious views of The Statue of Liberty, Manhattan, Brookly, New Jersey and beyond.
**This quotation is attributed to a huge number of people, including Confucius.
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2000+ 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 . . .
What Inspires Me? Women in Baseball
Baseball! Baseball! Baseball! As I write the World Series 2022—Phillies vs Astros or Astros vs Phillies—which team goes first at this point is still anyone’s bet!
This past spring and summer—through the more than 3-month long MLB owner-imposed Lockout, frenetic Spring Training, Regular and Post-season MLB 2022 — Shohei Ohtoni chasing Babe Ruth’s pitching records; Aaron Judge chasing Roger Maris’s season home run record; who was playing well, playing bad, losing, winning… it’s been about the guys!
I was really, really wanting to post a clip of that scene but couldn’t figure it out. So, if you want to watch the There’s No Crying in Baseball Scene click here. I won’t blame you—then come back!)
But…
In the movie “A League of Their Own” Tom Hanks playing team manager Jimmy Dugan wails, “There’s no crying in baseball!”
Notice, Jimmy Dugan (maybe my favorite baseball coach ever) didn’t say there are no women in baseball. He didn’t say it then. And he absolutely would not say it now. Because while there may not be many women MLB players now/yet. There most certainly are women in baseball!
We’re talking . . .
Women in the Big Leagues Baby! The MLB!
Women of various backgrounds, ethnicities, ages—
Female General Manager!
Female Managers!
Female Coaches!
Female Scouts!
Female Player’s too!
The writing is on the wall at the Louisville Slugger Muesum and Factory:
“We’re going to have women playing professionally (in MLB)”
These photos featuring some of the women working in the MLB this year, 2022. I write “some” because there are more! —many behind the scenes—and many ahead of the game (watch it, that “lady” in the stands might be a scout!)
These profiles grace the walls of the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. I snapped them on a recent visit—that’s an inspiring place too! (Another post; another time). Right now, today, while the teams, players, fans—the world—is buzzing with World Series 2022
Let’s here it for the girls! Here are some of women of the MLB:
Women in the Big Leagues! Now That’s Inspiring!
Fin Pal asks Norman "Do you like scary books?"
PSSSST! Do you want to know a secret?
Do you promise not to tell?
CLOSER . . . Let me whisper in your ear . . .
Norman the Goldfish is a Scaredy Fish! Yep, that’s why, in Not Norman, when the boy hears SCRATCH SCREETCH Norman is watching.
What’s more! In Norman One Amazing Goldfish, our fishy friend gets so scaredy he is quivers and shakes with Stage Fright!
What happens next? (No way am I spoiling the ending here. Read the book to find out!)
But here’s the secret: Norman loves reading books that are scary. Especially when they are about fish. If you like picture books that are a little bit scary and a whole lot of fun, read on:
Norman’s List of Five Best Scaredy-Fish Picture Books
(On a scare level of #1-5. #5 being fish scale-raising scariest.) *
#1 Ten Scared Fish by Ros Moriarty, illustrated by Balarinji (published by Allen & Unwin Australia, 2012.)
This underwater Australian creature counting book starts out 1-2-3 with Turtles, then a Snake…until finally 10 little Fish meet a big scary SHARK! Bold, bright pictures perfect for 1–3-year-olds.
#2 Ugly Fish by Kara LaReau, illustrated by Scot Magoon (published by Harcourt, 2006).
What’s scarier than a bully? Ugly Fish is ugly and big and mean, and he doesn’t share…with anyone! And that means the wimpy little fish who keep showing up in his tank have got to go. But then one day someone bigger and uglier and maybe even meaner arrives . . .
#3 Barry the Fish with Fingers and the Scary Harry Monster by Sue Hendra, illustrated by Paul Linnet (published by Simon & Schuster, 2011).
As that fabulous title suggests, this is a great fun read-aloud! Barry & his fishy friends are playing hide & seek. Puffy finds a great hiding place in an old wreck, but he gets scared out of his wits when he sees a hairy monster lurking in the shadows. Luckily Barry the fish with fingers comes to the rescue! Spoiler alert: the “monster” is just a friendly seahorse in need of a haircut.
#4 Teeth, Tentacles, and Tail Fins: A Wild Ocean Pop-Up by Matthew Reinhart (published by Reinhart Studios, 2021).
Pop-Up book of underwater creatures that jump out from the page! Literally! (Imagine the Jaws shark leaping for the boat—that image!) That and 49 others including the colossal squid, the anglerfish, goblin shark, of course, with facts about the creatures. Definitely not a bedtime read, and yes, pop-ups are fragile, but so worth it (and tape-able).
#5 Creepy But Cool Fish by Julie K. Lundgren (published by Crabtree Seedling, 2021)
Non-Fiction—what’s scarier than real life? Book of photographs of fish—from baby fish called “fry” to the whale shark—the largest fish! Including facts about how fish adapt in weird ways to their environment in order to survive.
*Amazon buying links are included for your convenience only; I do not receive payment/rewards for them. Our preference is that we buy local & support local booksellers!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! . . . BOO!
Do you have a question for Norman the Goldfish- about friends, school, pets, family, life in and outside the fishbowl? Send him a letter!
Don’t forget to order your copy of NOT NORMAN: A GOLDFISH STORY and NORMAN: ONE AMAZING GOLDFISH!!
Poetry Challenge #267-The Brave Bold Catalogue of ___
Want to toss a wet blanket over a group of boisterous adults (“adults” meaning literate and over 30…or precocious teen) all one need do is mention Sylvia Plath. Immediately one of three things will happen:
Plath’s semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, written under the pen name Victoria Lucas will spring to mind.
Conversation will switch to discussion of suicide and mental illness and the party scene will turn into round table ala The Voice.
A vision of coed Sylvia pedaling along in pink pops into your mind as you begin silently humming Gabriel Yared’s haunting theme from the stunning, moody 2003 movie Sylvia starring Gwyneth Paltrow—or make a beeline for your Sylvia Plath finger-puppet-refrigerator-magnet.
YES! You too could have one of your very own Sylvia Plath finger-puppet-refrigerator-magnet.
One of the rare snaps of Sylvia smiling—the way I imagined her when she was writing The Bed Book.
Why Sylvia Plath? Why today?
Because: on this day, Oct 27th, in 1932, Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts.
Because: by the time of her death at 30, Plath had accomplished more than many of us scribblers will in a lifetime.
Because: she was a remarkable, gifted novelist, poet, short story writer Joyce Carol Oates described in the NY Time Book Review as “one of the most celebrated and controversial of postwar poets writing in English.”
Yeah-yeah-yeah we all know this! We study Plath in high school literature and for many of us The Bell Jar was required reading thus Plath+death+sadness+poetry are linked in our minds.
But what we are not taught and so, what many of us never knew existed is the playful, imaginative rhyming poet Sylvia Plath, who in 1959, also wrote—gasp—a picture book!
The Bed Book by Sylvia Plath, is actually a rhyming catalogue of different kinds of beds, including a submarine bed, snack bed, and flying bed and many delightful others.
The original English version, published in 1976, is illustrated by Quintin Blake; the American version features art by Emily Arnold McCully. Treat yourself to either or both-delight filled!
Poetry Challenge #267
The Brave Bold Catalogue of __________
Let’s say “Happy Birthday Sylvia!” by creating a rhyming catalogue poem of our own. (Below are two of Plath’s rhymes from The Bed Book.)
Think of an ordinary everyday object. Something that is so common and common place one hardly notices it at all. Plath’s Bed for example, but not a bed, something different.
Now imagine all the various models or styles that object could come in. For example, might it, as Plath’s beds do, become a submarine or spaceship? Or???
Write a rhyming poem describing one or more versions of that object.
Let that object be brave! Be bold! Let it do what no such object has ever done before!
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just Imagine IT!
And just because, here’s the opening scene from Sylvia:
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2000+ 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 . . .
What Inspires Me? Visual Verse
A picture is worth a thousand words…the adage goes…and, as Visual Verse proves oh so many ideas!
As you may or may not know, about 2500 days ago, along with Cindy Faughnan, I challenged myself to write a poem a day. (Note: I didn’t say “good poem” I just said “a” poem, for most often, the result of the poem is not the point of the exercise, the “point” is in the thinking, the writing, the act of creating.
Visual Verse’s dedicated team!
And, at least once a month, the poetry prompts are provided by Visual Verse.
Visual Verse is a celebration. Of the drama of seeing and the desire to express it. Of the things that inspire us, move us, and that we find hardest to articulate.”—Visual Verse
Visual Verse submissions—inspired by select images—like this one by Erin Quinn titled “ETTA/Girl in Red Hat”—can be poems, fiction or non-fiction; must be between 50 and 500 words in length; and the read challenge: can be created in no more than 1 hour.
This October, by way of a challenge, Visual Verse hosted it’s Autumn Writing Contest!
Last week the 4 winning pieces and 16 shortlisted pieces (from 141 entries) were selected. I’m delighted to report that both Cindy and my efforts made the shortlist.
Visual Verse on the web, instagram @visualverseanthology; and twitter @visual_verse—it’s inspiring!
Poetry Challenge #266-Kiss'd Me-Kiss'd Me
Leigh Hunt, who was born on October 19, 1784, is known for introducing many famous poets of the time to the public: Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, Robert Browning, and Alfred Tennyson.
Hunt was a critic, an essayist, and a poet. Below is a short poem he wrote that is quite well-known.
Poetry Challenge #266
Kiss’d Me-Kiss’d Me
Write a poem that is circular, in the style of Leigh Hunt’s poem “Jenny Kiss’d Me.”
As did Hunt, begin and end with 3 words: ___________, __________, me…
a name an action
Make your poem rhyme in the abab pattern.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just do It!
For inspiration, click over to this video of Mary Chapin Carpenter’s song “Shut Up and Kiss Me!”
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2000+ 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 . . .
What Inspires Me? Being Alice
Ever wondered what it would be like to literally slide down that rabbit hole? Actually, be Alice? I have! And I’m thinking everyone who’s ever read Louis Carroll’s Adventures in Wonderland has too. Before now “Imaging” —or dressing up on Halloween—was as far as we went—let ourselves go—could go.
Alexa Meade paints human beings into art—literally—thus turning them into as Business Insider put it, “into living, breathing portraits.”
Artist Alexa Meade wasn’t content with “imaging.” Alice’s Wonderland from what she read in the book. Or to watching, reading about, imagining those other “Alices” and cast on the page or movie or Disney’s dizzying teacup ride. She wanted to be Alice!
And best, let us be Alice…and the Mad Hatter, too in Wonderland Dreams!
Wonderland Dreams is an interactive journey down the rabbit hole and into Alice’s Adventures created by artist Alexa Meade. 26,000 sq foot imagined, created, hand-painted from floor to ceiling, multi-dimensional world transporting visitors into Louis Carroll’s Wonderland.
Wonderland Dreams is artist Alexa Meade’s creation. You may not have heard of her, but if you recall Arianna Grande’s God is a Woman music video, in which she’s singing, while floating in a pool of paint, you’ve seen her work. The video, which is linked on Meade’s website, received more than 300 million views.
With Wonderland Dreams, Alexa Meade pushed herself to go beyond creating art—even human art—for us to view. She’s created a world for us to literally climb into. Now that’s inspiring!
Wonderland Dreams is live in NEW YORK! now through Spring of 2023. It’s located at 529 Fifth Avenue, near NYC’s iconic Bryant Park (a short walk from Penn Station.) You don’t need an apron or blue hair ribbon to climb through the rabbit hole. But you do need a ticket.
For more information and tickets visit the Wonderland Dreams website!
