Poetry Challenge #122-Here's To Bagels, Hats & Bagel Hats!
Full disclosure: It’s early and I am hungry.
Furthermore: I am craving a bagel.
Add to that: I didn’t have a clear idea of what this week’s 7-minute challenge should be so I did what I often do when I need inspiration, or a laugh, or to shake my head at some of the silly, fun, delightful…. odd ideas humans dream up to use as excuses for holidays. I consulted the National Day Calendar.
Helpful hint: you can search subjects or dates or categories willy-nilly and someone somewhere will have created a holiday for it. Try it sometime (not now.) And, as you read on, remember where I began…
SUCCESS! SURPRISE! DELISH-DELIGHT!
January 15th, is both National Hat Day and National Bagel Day. I’ve given some thought the matter and still, I have absolutely no idea what hats and bagels have to do with each other…except, of course, that everyone hungry/bagel-crazed enough to be bageling on the streets of Manhattan in the winter chill is wearing—or should be wearing—a hat. Maybe you’ll have a better idea:
Poetry Challenge #122
Hat’s Off to Bagels, Hats & Bagel Hats
Think of words that have to do with either hat or bagel.
Come up with words to describe your pick, words you think of when you have one or the other, or words that bagels and/or hats bring to mind.
Now use those words to form a shape poem. Fit the words into either the shape of a bagel or the shape of a hat. Make it beautiful!
Einstein’s Bagels is a Texas fav.
Set your timer for 7 minutes
Don’t think about it too much; just do it!
Start writing!
As soon as I finish my poem, guess where I’m going? Why don’t you join me? On the way there I’ll wear a hat; on the way home, I’ll be wearing a bagel—with creme cheese!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge sooooooo many bagels ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us by writing a poem, 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 #121-Joy Germs?!
It’s Spring….it’s supposed to be, that is. Spring seems a fickle friend this year. One moment it’s bright, sunny, glorious—get out in the garden and dig!—the next it’s cloudy and cold. My seedlings are shivering.
With regards to weather, Will Rogers famously said, “Give it, time, it will change.”
The trouble is, that the lack of sunny skies has given me a case of the gloomies. (Maybe you too?) to Combat it, I’m conjuring “Joy Germs.”
Technically, Joy Germ day is supposed to be January 8th. National Joy Germ Day is a holiday created to remind people “that by being positive and treating people with kindness, we can influence those around us and pass that positive attitude on to others.
Joy Germ day was established in 1981 by Joan White of Syracuse, New York, in honor of her mother. Here’s Joan’s prescription for observing Joy Germ Day: “Laugh, smile, be kind, inspire and spread the one type of germ that is good for everyone to catch!”
Joan White, Joy Germ Day’s Founder
Poetry Challenge #121
Joy Germs
What’s your Joy? Imagine you are a scientist in a happy lab concocting your own Joy Germ.
What would those ingredients be?
What’s your Joy?
What does it smell like?
Taste like?
Sound like?
How would you spread your Joy Germ?
Write a poem entitled Joy Germ
“May a giant jar of jaunty joy germs rest gently on you and yours.”
Set your timer for 7 minutes
Don’t think about it too much; just do it!
Start writing!
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. 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 #120-Renew Attitude
At the beginning of the new year, everyone seems to have the best intentions.
The most common resolutions people make are: exercise more, eat less, spend more time with family, get organized, save money, learn a new skill.
Sound familiar?? See image: Look Familiar???
Now that you’ve seen it, tear it up and burn it, erase it from you mind. Time for new resolutions! As they sing in the song*:
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me.
Poetry Challenge #120
Renew Attitude
Spring, like no other, is a season of renewal. So let’s do it!
In the form of a poem, write new resolutions. But not the “good for me” kind of resolutions. Write the “make me smile” hope-filled resolutions.
Fill them with spring color and life!
Set your timer for 7 minutes
Don’t think about it too much; just do it!
Start writing!
*Line from “Feeling Good” written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, sung most notably by Nina Simone
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge
We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us by writing a poem, 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 #120
Resolutionist’s 2020 Resolutions
Poetry Challenge #119-Rainbow Logic
I have been in 3 different cities, in 3 different time zones over the past 3 days and in each it has rained. To quote Brooks Benton:
“Feels like it’s raining all over the world.”
Consider the climate—weather and otherwise—what I/we need now, is some Kate, and some Leo* and... Iridescence!
I just learned (thanks to my beloved Merriam-Webster) that the word “iridescence” come from Iris.
“Iris, the Greek goddess of the rainbow, took messages from Mount Olympus to earth, and from gods to mortals or other gods, using the rainbow as her stairway. “
Thus, Iridescence is “the glowing, shifting, colorful quality of a rainbow, also seen in an opal, a light oil slick, a butterfly wing, or the mother-of-pearl that lines an oyster shell.”
Which brings us back to the one thing I have not seen over the past 3 days, in any of the 3 different cities across 3 different time zones.
Poetry Challenge #119
Rainbow Logic
If we can’t find a rainbow arching across the sky right now, we’ll have to create our own. Here goes:
1. Write the word “Light” or “Rainbow” vertically down the length of a page.
2. For each letter, write a related word or idea beginning with that letter extending out horizontally.
3. Take a few moments to refine your poem. Try adding or changing some words to add interest, rhythm or rhyme to your poem.
4. Select your favorite word or image to be the title of your poem.
Set your timer for 7 minutes
Don’t think about it too much; just do it!
Start writing!
And, for a real treat, check out Patricia Maclachlan’s brilliante picture book biography of Henri Matisse. A tidbit of trivia: it came about when her editor/publisher Neal Porter asked her what she was working on she said, (and I am paraphrasing) a little something I love but I don’t think anyone will ever publish. His response . . .
*If you know the movie I’m riffing of here, send word, you’ll receive a prize!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge many rainbows ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. (This one is Cindy’s.) 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 #118-Beyond Your Control
It’s that time of year when every day is a little bit longer than the one before.
And then, just when we are used to it, snippet by snippet night will begin stealing back moments. . .
and there is not one thing we can do about it. There are some things that are simply
Beyond Our Control. . .
Poetry Challenge #119
Beyond Your Control
Pretend I’m waving a ticking pocket watch before your eyes.
“You’re getting sleepy…sleepy…your eyes are getting heavy” …TICK-TICK-TICK
Let your eyes drift closed. . . Tick-tick . . .Now image you’ve been hypnotized into doing something that you would not ordinarily do. Something so out of character you’d have to be under some sort of unworldly power to attempt it.
And now, because the clock is ticking, fast as you can write a poem about where you are, what you’re doing, and how you feel doing it.
Keep it short. Four lines maximum. Because the clock is ticking!
Set your timer for 7 minutes
Don’t think about it too much.
just
Start
writing!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 8 summer 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 #117-Celebrate!
Every day is a special day. If a day dawns in need of an excuse to celebrate I make a quick search. I delight in finding calendars that telling what each day is special for—more than 365 reasons to make a ruckus!
Today, April 15th is according to nationaldaycalendar.com, is Purple Up Day! Rubber Eraser Day! and Take a Wild Guess Day!
And, if that’s not enough to get you blowing those weird paper roll-up horns, it’s the 30th Anniversary of National Poetry Month!
Poetry Challenge #117
A Month of Holidays
As the inimitable fashion of Kool and the Gang:
Celebration time…Come on!
No matter what day it is, find something to celebrate. (If only it’s not having to listen to me singing along…because you know I am.)
Choose something to celebrate. Erasers maybe, or purple, or the neighbor’s irritatingly loud wind chimes. (At least they haven’t blown off into my yard or through a window…YET!)
Write a celebratory poem.
Jazz your poem up with some celebratory words: Clap, cheer, rejoice, glitter, shine, hallelujah!
And if you need some mood music, click and listen to Kool and the Gang singing Celebration!
Set your timer for 7 minutes
Don’t think about it too much; just do it!
Start writing!
And when you’re finished…CELEBRATE!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 3500 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. (This one is Cindy’s.) 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 #116-Prompt Time
Contrary to popular believe, there is a sure fire cure for writer’s Brain Freeze.
At first you might baulk. Complain. Resist ala Baby in Dirty Dancing. But it works . . .
Poetry Challenge #116
Prompt Time
Writing from a prompt pushes you to write fast and helps you free your mind. Get your notebook or computer ready and set your timer. Below is a one-line prompt.
No one tells me what to do…
You use the prompt as your first line of a poem, your last line, or a line in the middle. Read it and then write as fast as you can.
Ready . . .
Set your timer for 7 minutes
Don’t think about it too much; just do it!
Start writing!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over eight years ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. (This one is Cindy’s.) 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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What Inspires Me #3-Out of the Box Ideas!
Today I posted the last 7-Minute Poetry Prompt!
(If you were relieved to read that, then the joke is on me.)
Speaking of jokes, while clicking around for some prank I could play today (that wasn’t cruel or difficult), I came upon these definitely sound like pranks, but are they???
For now, though, let’s set “Velveeta” hair color aside (as if we could), and focus on my news. (Hopefully you’ll find it inspiring?)…
My latest book RAINBOW KITE is flying! Catch it!
It is perfect for spring as it’s about a kid who
finds a kite.
And it’s kite flying season.
And, words aside, it has delightful art by K.M. Brown.
You’ll find more about K.M. and how she creates are in the Interview posted here.
RAINBOW KITE could really, really, really use your help (and so could I). If you are willing to write a review and post in on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, etc. I’ll send you a digital copy of the book to review. Send me a note!
And now, the answer to the big question of the day: Are those products fake or real?
I had absolutely nothing to do with these products*, finding them or gather the info—it’s from a post by Ariana Losch published in Sporked “Out to Be Real” (And the joke seems to be on me as the image on my screen isn’t showing the whole article excerpt.) I Hope it is on yours. But if not, click to read the article.
*I did a quick search for the Doctor Pepper TicTacs, they are available on line.
Spring, and out-of-the-box ideas, and Kites—That’s Inspiring!