Poetry Challenge #191--Sunglasses Mandatory

Audrey Hepburn made shades chic,

Tom Cruise’s Top Gun Ray Bans made them cool,

Grandboy Bennett made them cooler . . .

Tracy Ulman’s cover of the Sunglasses Song made them camp…

Sunglasses/ooh-ooh/to hide behind

Sunglasses/ ooh-ooh /to cry behind

Sunglasses/ ooh-ooh/ die behind

Twelfth Century inventors made sunglasses of smoked glass expressly for Chinese judges to wear so no one could see where they were looking or what they were thinking.

Poetry Challenge #191

Sunglasses Mandatory

Who’s that behind those Foster Grants? asked the iconic ad campaign. Who indeed? Sunglasses—polarized, mirrored, UV protected, rose-tinted—protect us from the harsh glare of the sun, reality…and so much more.

For this prompt write a sunglasses poem riffing off the 1984 Corey Hart hit in which he sang that he wore his

sunglass as night so I can/so I can. . .

Why? When? Where do you wear those sunglasses? What can you do with them on? What happens when you take them off?  

For extra credit, write one line with sunglasses on, the next with glasses off, glasses on, glasses off.

Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes

Start Writing!

Don’t Think About it, just do it!

Dylan in shades, just for laughs!

Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 4 years 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.

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