7-Minute Poetry Challenge Kelly Bennett 7-Minute Poetry Challenge Kelly Bennett

Poetry Challenge #248-Say Cheese!

I’ve got a Nikon Camera/I’d love to take a photograph

If you remember that song, then you probably recall cameras as something other than an app on your smartphone. You might even, like me, have one tucked into a drawer somewhere… Nikon, Cannon, Polaroid, Camera Obscura!

Well dang, pull out your old box camera—or your big lens—and give it a good dusting for today is National Photography Day. That’s right, every June 15 the North American Nature Photography Association, otherwise known as NANPA, along with millions of photographers go snap happy!

Poetry Challenge #248

Say Cheese!

Find a photo from at least ten years ago (more is better). Study the photo.

If there are people in it, who are they?

What are they doing?

What might they be thinking?

Where is the photo taken? Are there buildings? Trees? Plants? Who was the photographer? Who wasn’t in the picture?

Write a free verse poem telling the story of this photograph.

Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes

Start Writing!

Don’t Think About it, just do it!

Still baffled? The song is Kodacrome by Paul Simon. Here’s a snappy version sung by the Muppets!

Click to the Muppets singing Kodachrome

Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2000+ days 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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All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .


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