Poetry Challenge #35-Riffing Rhyming it So!

It’s raining where I live. It rained yesterday. And the day before.  And guess what? Tomorrow is forecasted to be another dreary. Rainy. Blucky day.

Yes, I know rain is good for the flowers, but it’s been raining so much, even the zinnias are drooping. And zinnia are the perkiest flowers of all!

Is there any better raining blues song than Rainy Night in Georgia? To listen, click on the album cover. 

Channeling Brook Benton:

“Feel’s like it’s rainin’ all over the world…”

I’m trying to change that. Remember that nursery rhyme, “Rain, Rain go away”? I’m singing it today, just as we used to sing it when I was a kid. And dang if it didn’t work…sometimes.

(Even when it didn’t, just singing it made us feel sunny.)

Let’s give it a try:

Poetry Challenge #35

Riffing Rhyming it So!

Let’s begin with the old nursery rhyme, Rain-Rain-Go-Away. Here are 3 stanzas—it can continue . . . as long as the rain falls.

Rain, rain, go away
Come again another day
Little Johnny wants to play

Rain, rain go away.

Rain, rain go away

Come again another day
Crazy Kelly wants to play

Rain, rain go away.

Rain, rain, go away

Come again another day
Big Brother wants to play

Rain, rain, go away . . .

Now, think of something you’d like to go away. If it’s not rain, something else—whatever you would like to go away. Begin by substituting what you want to go away for the word “Rain” every time it appears. (It works best if your “go away” thing is only 1 or two syllables; if it has a long name you’ll have to abbreviate it.)

Next, skip to line 3 and substitute your name for “Little Johnny.” Notice mine is “Crazy Kelly”—cause the rain is driving me CraZy!

 Now, you have a choice. Do you want to riff the easy way? Or the harder way?  

 Easy way: Notice how every line in the original ends in a rhyme: Away, Day, Play? If what you’d like to do is “play” or rhymes with play, you’re on easy street. Simply substitute what you’d like to do for “play” throughout the nursery rhyme. Easy as that, you’ve created a new chant. Or . . .

Harder way: If you’re ready to really riff, think of some similes for the phrase “Go Away.” Here are a few to get you started. (Because I am still hoping this chant works, I’m sticking with rain.):

Rain, Rain, hit the road . . .

Rain, Rain, take a hike . . .

Rain, rain, wave bye-bye . . .

Crack open that rhyming dictionary again because you need to come up with WHAT you’d do if whatever you want to go away, really did do just that—and it must rhyme!  

Now put it all together. Feel free to change other words, mess with the pattern . . . heck, skip rhyming all together if you want. After all, it’s your riff. Here’s mine:

Rain, Rain take a hike,

Curtis wants to ride his bike.

Rain, rain wave bye-bye,

I’m sick and tired of staying inside!

Rain, rain, hit the road,

Or Crazy Kelly might EXPLODE!

 Wha-lah! Just like that we have created our own nursery rhyme. If we’re lucky it might even work!

Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Start writing!

Don’t think about it too much; just do it.

Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge at least 2900 days 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 dang poem. Scroll down and click on the comments!

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