Poetry Challenge #181-Anthem in the Key of Life
March 3rd, 2021 marks the 90th birthday of our national anthem. Yep, although written by Frances Scott Key in 1814, and having been sung proudly—if off-key often— for than 100 years in between, it wasn’t until March 3, 1931, Pres. Hoover signed a congressional resolution officially declaring “The Star Spangled Banner” the official anthem of the USA.
And while we’ve been singing the anthem, and hearing it sung zillions of times—for sports enthusiasts I mean that literally, most recently by Lady Gaga at President Biden’s Inauguration: take a listen!—how often do we consider the words?
Poetry Challenge #181
Anthem in the Key of Life
In celebration of National Anthem Day, Let’s pick up where Frances Scott Key left off.
Choose a line of the Star Spangled Banner and use it as the first line of your poem.
Maybe the first:
Oh say can you see_________________
or the last:
…Home of the brave_____________
or any line in between.
…By the dawn’s early light______________
Let it begin a new anthem for yourself, the country, or the world.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
Oh, Say Can You…
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1777 days ago! We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. 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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Poetry Challenge #180-Revisionist Wednesday-Cutting UP!
Are you a cut up? Did you every get in trouble for “cutting up?” Does anyone even use that term in Merriam-Webster’s Intransitive Verb option #2 anymore?
“to behave in a comic, boisterous, or unruly manner: clown.”
Well get ready cause we are! Perhaps with more physical intent: a poet’s version of the newspaper Jumble (my mom-in-law’s favorite).
For this you’ll need scissors!
Poetry Challenge #180
Cutting Up
Choose a poem you’ve written that you’d like to make better.
Print the poem in a large font or write it out by hand in large letters.
Cut the words into individual pieces.
Organize them—alphabetically or by number of letters or any other way you can think of. Can you see any interesting/exciting combinations of words now?
Work on a sheet of blank paper and rearrange the words into a new poem. Feel free to add more words if needed. Write them on the paper where you want them to be. You don’t have to use all your words. Read the new poem aloud and see how it sounds.
You can do this on any poem. If you want a different challenge, Take two poems and mix their words together. Have fun!
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Scrambling!
Don’t Think About it, do it! Play!
Be a Cut Up!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1766 days ago! We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. 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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Poetry Challenge #179-KIND Random Acts
One reason I love Valentine’s Day is Conversation Hearts, those chalky pastel hearts imprinted with love notes. When I was a kid, we’d sift through the tiny box searching for those with specific saying to share. (In the process eating the misprinted and broken ones.) In sixth grade, I gave one to Gary Hall which read BE MINE. He popped it into his mouth and held out his hand for another…didn’t even both to read it! If I could have do overs I’d choose one with a different four-letter word after BE: K-I-N-D.
It has been decided that we all need to be reminded to Be Kind and so Valentine’s Week has been officially declared Random Acts of Kindness Week, and smack dab in the middle—in case a whole week of being randomly kind is a hardship—Feb. 17th is Random Acts of Kindness Day.
Poetry Challenge #179
Random Acts of Kindness
Today in honor of Random Acts of Kindness Day, let’s write a Random Acts of Poetry poem . . . with very specific, seemingly random, rules:
# of lines: the digits of today’s date (or whichever day you choose) added together (If it’s the 17th, add 1+7=8 and write 8 lines or if you’d rather go with the year: 2+0+2+1=5, write 5 lines)
# of words on the line: the number of letters in the month. (For example, February has 8, write 8 words per line; or 3 for Feb.)
Repeating letter: the 3rd letter of your name. Use this letter as many times as possible. (Mine’s L; what’s yours?)
Rhyme scheme: ABCCBA…repeated as long as you need it. That means the 3rd and 4th lines rhyme, as well as the 2nd and 4th, and the 1st and 6th.
You can write about kindness or random or acts or anything else you can think of.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing
Don’t Think About it, do it! BE KIND
And if, like me, you are heartened by accounts of other’s kindness, click over to The Kindness Pandemic Facebook page. Throughout this pandemic, whenever I need a boost (several times some days) I click over to read a story. What generous amazing people there are in this world. Kindness is Contagious!
Here’s the official website link with activities, suggestions, color sheets, too: Random Acts of Kindness.org.
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1766 days ago! We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. 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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Poetry Challenge #178-Bust Out the Bumbershoot!
For more than 4,000 years—longer if one counts fronds—umbrellas have been working tirelessly on our behalf. They protect us from rain, shield us from sun, make excellent walking sticks, rubbish picks, pool cues, tushy pokers & ice shades in fruity drinks! And that’s only when acting as nouns.
Umbrellas serve and protect as adjectives and verbs, too. And so today, Feb. 10th, National Umbrella Day, with one huge sweeping—umbrella-esk—gesture we honor this most useful invention.
“The word umbrella comes from the Latin word umbra, meaning shade or shadow.” Brolly, parasol, gamp are slang for umbrella as is bumbershoot, “a fanciful Americanism for an umbrella from the late 19th century.”
FYI: According to Merriam-Webster, Bumbershoot is said to be a melding of the British “Brolly” and slang for parachutes they resemble when unfurled.
Bumbershoot! If Gene Kelly can dance and sing in the rain with an umbrella partner, we can praise them poetically, can’t we?
Click on the pic for this DIY umbrella
Poetry Challenge #178
Bust Out the Bumbershoot!
Create a shape poem about, involving, or inspired by an umbrella—fully open in all its unfurled glory or tightly rolled and snapped closed—poet’s choice.
FYI: A shape poem is a poem in which the words on the page are arranged to resemble the subject of the poem, or somehow relate to the subject.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
Cheers!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1755 days ago! We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. 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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Poetry Challenge #177-Play Like a Girl!
There was a time not so long ago when women were considered too “fragile” or “delicate” to play sports (even though hauling—water, rocks, grain, kids—scrubbing floors, laundry, slinging iron pots etc. was woman’s work.) It took a President proclamation by Ronald Reagan, in 1987, to officially recognize the history of women’s athletics and the Title IX amendment, in 1972, to make it against federal law to excluding students from participating in educational and athletic programs on the basis of sex. And even after it’s taken “Girls with Guts, Breaking Barriers and Bashing Records” to begin to equalize the gender playing field. So for today’s prompt, let’s here it for the girls!
Poetry Challenge #177
Play Like a Girl
In celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, write a poem describing a girl’s sporting event. It might be basketball, track, swimming, gymnastics, hockey, skiing…you name it.
Use poetic devices such as sounds, rhythm and repetition to simulate the sounds, feeling, action of the game.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing
Don’t Think Too Much About it; Just Do it!
Let the Games Begin!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1750 days ago! We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. 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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Poetry Challenge #176-Hooray! Library Shelfie Day
Every fourth Wednesday in January, bookies, biblophiles, readers, library nerds, like us—OK us—celebrate Library Shelfie Day. They (we) take a picture of themselves (ourselves)—a selfie—in front of a shelf of books—making it a shelfie.
Pictures are taken at the library, bookstore, school, or home—anywhere there is a shelf of books—and posted to social media #LibraryShelfieDay #ShelfieDay #Shelfie. Check out this collection of NYPL Favorites & Shee for your shelf!
When it comes to celebrating, they stop a snapping shelfies but, that’s not how we click:
Poetry Challenge #176
Library Shelfie Day
In honor of Library Shelfie Day, this week’s prompt is to write a spine poem. Find books on your shelves and arrange them so that when you read the spines, each book creates a line in the poem. See if you can include at least 5 books.
Here’s Mine writing Shelfie
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Spines Out! Start Writing
Don’t Think Too Much About it; Just do it!
My Shelfie—read it in the comments
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1742 days ago! We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you.
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Poetry Challenge #175-Say Cheese!
Today is National Cheese Lover’s Day—a perfect day to enjoy cheese all day long. Maybe some cream cheese on a bagel for breakfast, a nice slice of cheddar or swiss on your sandwich at lunch, and macaroni and cheese for dinner. MMMM!
But cheese is also one of the words most used by photographers trying to get their subjects to smile: “Say cheese,” they call before they click their camera.
Poetry Challenge #175
Say Cheeeeeese!
For today’s prompt, find a photo with one or more people in it. If you are in the picture, do you remember what you were thinking at that moment?
What about the others in the picture? What about the photographer? Were they thinking of where they’d rather be? Did they have something to say to someone else in the picture?
What were they wishing, hoping, wanting at that moment?
Write a poem with real or imagine thoughts for the people in the picture. Include the people outside the picture—the photographer, onlookers, passersby, a person receiving the photo.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing
Don’t Think Too Much About it; Just do it!
Remember to say CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1737 days ago! We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. (This is one of Cindy’s.) 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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MLK Day Poetry Challenge
Adding a world wide poetry prompt to our usual weekly challenge. Celebrate MLK Day by writing your own "I Dream A World" Poem. Honor Martin by working toward living it true.
MLK Day Poetry Challenge
Honor MLK By Describing How You Dream A World
From NPR:
As we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, Morning Edition asks for you to write a poem that starts with the words "I dream a world.”
Write a poem that, like Hughes did, begins with the line: "I dream a world" and describe the change you hope for.
Your poem can rhyme like Hughes' poem, but it doesn't have to. It just has to dream us out of tribulation.
Share your poem through the form below, then Alexander will take lines from some of your pieces and create a community crowdsourced poem. Alexander and Martin will read it on air, and NPR will publish it online, where contributors will be credited.