Poetry Challenge #52-Hurricane Florence
As I type Hurricane Florence* rages. Although I am far from the storm, it’s the only thing on my mind. With each update on the storm’s path and efforts those in the storms projected path are making to prepare, worry mounts. If you are like me, your thoughts and energy are with those in the Southeast—watching, waiting, worrying. As we send our energy and light to all in the storm’s path, let’s focus our creative effort there with today’s prompt.
Poetry Challenge #52
Hurricane Florence
Write a hurricane poem from the point of the view of a hurricane. Muster all the hurricane language you can—sounds and actions, too. Ask yourself, if Hurricane Florence were an animal or a machine which would she be?
*This is the 5th time a Hurricane has been named Florence. Why? There are plenty of other names that begin with the letter F. Feel free to change your hurricane’s name to something else. And if you do, consider: Does your hurricane want to hurt…or hug?
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Think “Hurricane” and get to it!
Excellent Book!
Hurricane Florence Playlist:
Red Cross and other relief organizations are hard at work supporting evacuees and preparing for the storm. DONATIONS are needed:
HURRICANE FLORENCE RELIEF
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 870 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 poem in the comments.
Poetry Challenge #51-Remember When?
Remember When…
I wandered back to 54 Oregon Street--my grandparent's house. It did not look like this then--and it was much larger...wasn't it?
What’s the first thing you think of when you say that phrase?
Do you remember when you were seven? You had some money? You saw a movie? You ate a new food? So many memories! So many different poems you could write.
Poetry Challenge #51
Remember When?
Pick one thing you remember. Maybe it’s the first thing that came to mind when you began reading this post. Maybe you need to scroll through your memories until you find one that creates a vivid picture in your mind.
Write a poem beginning with the words “Remember when…”. If you get stuck, write “Remember when…” again and go on with another memory. Extra credit for adding colors, smells, sounds, feelings.
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
Remember When? Playlist:
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 870 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. (This jaunt down memory lane was Cindy's idea.) 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 poem in the comments.
Poetry Challenge #50
“DON’T USE ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS TO PRETIFY YOUR PROSE!” The warning—BOLD & ALL CAPS—is issued at least once, in ever writing class. So much so, that it’s the title of a Writers’ Digest article expounding the excellence of Raymond Carver via his teacher John Gardner’s leaner-is-neater adverb and adjective-free prose.
If "Ly" were a dog, this is him. Sad.
Following in Carver/Gardner's footsteps has let us to “cast a suspicious eye on these forms of speech because many times they add little to what is already on the page.” As a result those ly-ending adverbs (and adjectives*) we once sprinkled throughout our prose as liberally as we sugared our Lucky Charms have been unnecessarily shunned, ignominiously tossed aside, and relegated extremely disposable.
A sign, at the entrance to the Cooper Hewitt Museum's exhibition “Design Beyond Vision” caught my attention and caused me to wonder: Where have all the adverbs gone? Long time passing . . . What has become of those lowly, loathsome “Ly”s? They are, frankly, lonely.
Here's the juicy sign. What's missing?
Hence today’s battle cry and prompt: Down with Understated. Let’s bravely go where no adverb has gone before…(or at least not for a long, long time.)
Poetry Challenge #50
Ode for Lonely "Ly"
Let’s write an adverb poem. Begin with the simplest sentence: A subject and a verb. For example: Jack ran. Mary ate. Unicorn flew.
Now ask yourself “how?” or “when?” or “Where?” Answer by adding an adverb. Repeat that adverb and ask “how?” Answer with another adverb.
Keep repeating this pattern, asking “how?” or “when?” or “where?” and answering with adverbs, one after the other after the other after the other, until you’ve used all the adverbs you want. Then, bring it to a rousing—or not—finish. As an example, here’s my effort:
“Ly sat lonely
Dejectedly, roundly, slovenly,
Unsoundly, ashamedly, awkwardly, unconsolably
Day after day in the darkest depths of the keyboard, until . . .
Unabashedly, slap-dashishly, left-handishly I asked “how?”
Look at Ly now!”
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
Ode For Lonely "Ly" Playlist:
Link to the article “Don’t Use Adjectives and Adverbs to Prettify Your Prose”
Where Have all the Adverbs Gone by Peter, Paul & Mary
Ode to the Lowly [Ly] by Roy Orbison
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 850 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 poem in the comments.
**To paraphrase McArthur and Arnold: “Adjectives! We’ll be back!”
Poetry Challenge #44-A Neat Idea . . .
Sometimes all you need to write a poem is something to get you started. A number, a color, a word, or a phrase.
Poetry Challenge #44
Here’s a Neat Idea:
For this poem, begin with the phrase “Here’s a neat idea:” and write.
You could be talking to yourself about something you’ve done or that you want to do.
You could be talking to someone else about something you want them to do.
You could be talking about something real or imagined.
Whenever you get stuck, write the phrase again and see where it takes you.
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 850 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. (This one is Cindy's.) 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 poem. Scroll down and click on the comments.
Want the 7-Minute Stretch sent to your email? Click on SUBSCRIBE to receive email notification when entries are posted on Kelly's Fishbowl
Poetry Challenge #42: WIZZ! BOOM! BANG! BWEEEEE!
This year's Fourth of July celebration was the longest ever--almost 2 weeks long! Fireworks began popping, smoke bombs frizzing, grills sizzling, ice clinking the last weekend in June and carried on to last night's finale-- WIZZ-BANG-BOOM TAH-DAH! (hence the tardiness of this post.) While Firework memories are still fresh, let's try capturing them:
Poetry Challenge #42:
WIZZ! BOOM! BANG! BANG! BWEEEE!
Make some Fourth of July noise!
Close your eyes and recall all those Fourth of July celebration sounds. Try to describe them with onomatopoeia (sound words like BOOM!) or simile (comparison using like or as: The fireworks were like giant bees buzzing the crowd) or metaphor (comparison not using like or as: The fireworks were thunder). Be poetic! Be loud or quiet! Listen…Hear those Sparklers sizzle?
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 850 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. (This one is Cindy's.) 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 poem. Scroll down and click on the comments.
Want the 7-Minute Stretch sent to your email? Click on SUBSCRIBE to receive email notification when entries are posted on Kelly's Fishbowl
Poetry Challenge #39-Kodachrome
When I think back on all the @#$! I learned in college, a disturbing experiment I learned about in PR 101 floats up: Subliminal Advertising. (Okay, yes, maybe it came to mind because I’m feeling a tad guilty and extremely bloated after devouring by the fistful more than my half of the movie popcorn last night.)
As if Psyco wasn't scary enough . . .
Short History Lesson: This idea of Subliminal Advertising came from a 1957 study by James Vicary, a market researcher who inserted the words "Eat Popcorn" and "Drink Coca-Cola" into a movie. “The words appeared for a single frame, allegedly long enough for the subconscious to pick up, but too short for the viewer to be aware of it.
The subliminal ads supposedly created an 18.1% increase in Coke sales and a 57.8% increase in popcorn sales.” As noted in this 2011 article from Business Insider, the results Vicary reported were falsified. But the idea of Subliminal Advertising, that images and words can and do subconsciously influence us, is widely regarded as true. Assuming it is, let the mind-bending commence:
Poetry Challenge #39
Kodachrome
Begin with some Words of Wisdom: select a quotation or adage from a book, the wall, or the Internet—or make up your own. For example:
“The Chief enemy of creativity is good sense.”—Pablo Picasso.
”All cats look grey at night”—Ben Franklin
”The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.”—Steve Jobs”
Now, in a blatant effort to subliminally impact readers—and maybe ourselves—let's hide those words of wisdom within the body of the poem. The trick is to insert the kernels of “wisdom” so deftly your reader doesn’t notice them. How?
Take out an unused piece of paper.
Working top to bottom, write the quotation down the center of the paper—one word to a line. As we are not creating an Acrostic poem, vary the position of the word on the lines.
Now write a poem around the words, thus "hiding" your message in a poem.
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
My not-so-subliminal message to YOU!
Kodachrome Playlist:
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge approximately 26 Months, 2 Weeks, 6 Days, 13 Hours, 33 Minutes and 20 Seconds 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 poem. Scroll down and click on the comments
Want the 7-Minute Stretch sent to your email? Click on SUBSCRIBE to receive email notification when entries are posted on Kelly's Fishbowl
Poetry Challenge #37-Put Me In Coach!
The “Kansas Comet,” Gayle Sayers, considered “one of the greatest players in NFL history,” was born on May 30, 1943.
(I don’t recall ever actually seeing Gayle Sayers play. In my mind he’s Billy D. Williams from the 1971 movie Brian’s Song. If you haven’t seen it, you should—bring tissues.)
Sayer, who played for the Chicago Bears, said, “I had a style all my own. The way I ran, lurchy, herky-jerky, I kept people off-guard…”
“Lurchy, herky-jerky” works! Football fans take note: For the record, Sayer piled up “4,956 yards rushing in his 68-game career and was voted to four Pro Bowls. Sayers scored 22 touchdowns and 132 points in his first season, both then-rookie records.”
Poetry Challenge #37
Put Me in Coach
Write a poem about football in your own “Lurchy, herky-jerky style.”
Or . . .
Write a poem to the “Coach” of your imagination asking to be “Put in” to something you really, really, really want.
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 more than 800 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 poem. Scroll down and click on the comments!
Want the 7-Minute Stretch sent to your email? Click on SUBSCRIBE to receive email notification when entries are posted on Kelly's Fishbowl
Poetry Challenge #34-I Have Never __________
There are many things I’ve never done. Truths and Lies: I’ve never pet a tiger although I had a stuffed one growing up. I’ve never eaten snails or octopus. I’ve never run a marathon or climbed a mountain over 3000 feet tall.
Poetry Challenge #34
I Have Never ___________________
Make a list of some things you’ve never done. Try dividing your list into sections: things you’ve never done and never want to do, things you’d like to do but haven’t done yet, and things that seem impossible. Write a poem using some of these. It could be a list poem or it could be about one of these things. Maybe it’s a wish poem of things you want to do.
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
*Cindy Faughnan (an excellent baker!--click on the hyperlink to see) and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 750 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!