Poetry Challenge #159-Chew On This!
Double mint chewing gum/it’s the one/tastes so fun/made for me and you…
For much of my young life, that jingle—like the gum it touted—was stuck in my head. I resurrected it and a few others especially for today, September 30th—otherwise celebrated as National Chewing Gum Day!
Gift for my 17th birthday & blatant product placement…
“Get your skis shined up, grab a stick of Juicy Fruit — the taste is gonna move you! Move you up! Move you out! The taste is gonna move you when you pop it in your mouth!
Juicy Fruit is gonna move ya! It’s got a taste that gets right through ya!”
Along with digging through drawers and bags for a stray stick, I dug up some chewing gum history (and finally broke down and “treated” myself to a chipped gumball from my ancient dispenser.) Chewing on:
“Kiss a little longer, stay close a little longer, hold tight a little longer — longer with Big Red!”
Seems as long as humans have been walking upright, they’ve been chewing some sort of gum. Evidence, dating back more than 5,000 years, shows humans chewing gum-like substances: sap resin, tar, bark, wax, gristle, for various reasons: staving off hunger, freshening breath, working out nervous energy—you name it, apparently they chewed it. So maybe it’s true that gum isn’t digestible and thus stays forever in one’s stomach (otherwise how would they know?)
To paraphrase Cole Porter:
Mayans chewed it, Greeks chewed it, even Neanderthals in skins chewed. They chewed it—Babe Ruth did, too! How’s about yoooouuuuuuu.
When I think of gum—aside from it being stuck—in hair, on sofas, clothing…shoes—and chewing, it’s the jingles. Which lead to this prompt.
Poetry Challenge #159
Chew on This!
Pop a stick of gum into your gob—literally or figuratively—and chew away. There you go: chew, chew, chew. Now, with that repetitive rhythm in mind, write a poem.
The subject of the poem doesn’t have to be chewing gum. It can be, of course. Whichever subject you choose—be it chewing gum or otherwise—focus on the rhythm, that repetitive chewing action. Try to get that repetitive motion and sound into your poem.
If you’d like to chomp off a bigger challenge, see if you can shape your poem into a jingle.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing
Don’t Think Too Much About it; Just chew-chew-chew it!
More to chew on:
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than SIXTEEN HUNDRED days ago! (without a miss!!!) 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. And scroll down for my happy news:
