Poetry Challenge #195: If it Walks Like a Duck & Talks Like a Duck . . .
Back in the before time—aka when I was a kid—we cracked ourselves up trying to talk like Donald Duck. BTW: Teacher’s hated it… It’s not sooo hard. If it helps, Donald’s voice creator, Clarence Nash, called it his “nervous baby goat” voice. You sort of suck your cheeks in, push your lips out into a duck bill shape, flatten your tongue and push it out until until the tip is even with your lips—now repeat after me:
Hello! My Name is Donald Duck.
How was your DD impression? Better than this?
Now, on with the show . . .
Poetry Challenge #195
If it Walks like a Duck and Talks like a Duck . . .
Why the Donald Duck voices, today? Because its National Donald Duck Day! The cranky cartoon duck in a sailor suit’s birthday made his screen debut on June 9, 1934 in Disney’s cartoon The Wise Little Hen. And he’s still quacking along!
The challenge for today (should you choose to accept it*) is to write a poem in the spirit of Donald Duck. Perhaps your memory of watching Donald Duck, or from Donald Duck’s viewpoint, or about ducks in general or Donald in particular, your choice. Here’s where it gets Quackers!
Make it a rhyming poem in which the first line ends with “Quackers” or “Quack” and each of the following lines rhymes with that.
Get into a Ducky frame of mind.
Set Your Time for 7 Minutes.
Ready. Set. Write!
As DD famously said (cue nervous baby goat), “There, I knew I could do it!!
*Don’t know that DD ever had a chance to appear in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. series and witness the tape disintegrate, but if he had . . .
Clarence Nash—the original voice of Donald Duck (1934-1983) “Actually, I wanted to be a doctor; but instead I became the biggest quack in the world.”
And because this is a celebration of all things Donald:
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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