Poetry Challenge #25-Double Dog Dare You Not To . . .E!
How Dare You Dare Me . . .
When it comes to “don’t dos” I’m like a bull in a ring and that’s the red flag. It’s almost impossible for me to resist doing what I’m told not to do.
And yes, that does make me a lousy at word games like Password and Taboo.
As hard as it is for me (and maybe you) to resist using a word or phrase on purpose, it’s fun to try. As having fun with words is the purpose of these 7-Minute Challenges, for this prompt I double dog dare you to put on your logologist’s hat and write a lipogram.* Say what?
Poetry Challenge #25
Double Dog Dare You to Delete the E
A lipogram consisting of writing paragraphs or longer works in which a particular letter or group of letters is avoided. In its easiest form, a writer avoids using uncommon letters like X, J, Q, or Z. Or avoids words with “ing” or “ed” endings. More difficult lipograms avoid common letters like A, T or E—E being the most common letter in the English language.
If you think avoiding using E is tough, consider this: Ernest Vincent Wright wrote an entire 50,000 word novel, GADSBY, without using the letter E.
Well, dang. If Wright could write a whole novel without "E", surely you and I can write a poem without "E", can’t wii?
Begin with a poem you’ve already written. Revise it by deleting every “E” word and replacing it with another word, if necessary.
Or, if you’d rather, revise the poem using only “E” words.
Or, try writing an entirely new poem without the letter “E”.
(And no fair intentionally mis-spelling words to avoid using “E”, that’s cheating.)
For Inspiration:
American logologist A Ross Eckler Jr. recreated Mary Had a Little Lamb six times, excluding different letters each time. To see the results of his efforts, click over to Wikipedia.
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Select a poem to revise.
Start deleting "E" . . . I dare you!
*We have award-winning author/VCFA faculty advisor Tim Wynne Jones to thank (or curse) for this prompt. He shared his passion for logology during a VCFA lecture last summer.
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7-Minute Poetry Challenge #23-Where In The World?
So fun to toss around than a fancy word for a simple task. An Acrostic Poem is one of the simplest forms of poetry and yet it’s sooo confusing to describe in words. It can also be one of the most fun to write (and thus it’s one of the first forms of poetry children learn). Every Acrostic Poems begins the same way: With a word or phrase. This word or phrase is usually the title, too. (For clarity sake, I will refer to it as “the title” from here on out.)
from Young Writers
In short, the title is written in a column down the left side of the page. From there a word or phrase beginning with the letter—which defines or relates to the title—extends off the side of the letter left to right across the page.
Wait! I’ll make it easy for you with this example from Young Writers, an organization dedicated to encouraging children to write. Although its contests, etc. are for UK students, the resources on the website are for everyone! Now it’s your turn.
Poetry Challenge #23
Where In The World?
Pick a name, any name—of a place in the world. Create an Acrostic Poem by writing that place name down the left side of a page. Then, as in the example above, use words that begin with each letter to describe that place…or, if you’ve never been there, describe what you imagine that place is like.
If you think that’s too easy, try creating an acrostic in which the last letter of each line spells out the name.
Or harder still, try creating an acrostic with the name in the center of the line. (Below are examples also from Young Writers.)
“ACROSTIC AT THE END OF THE LINE
Just woken up, I’m famished! Fancy a bananA
Oh dear, none in the fruit bowl. Wish I could do magiC
Like Harry Potter. Over there I do see a pearR
That’s boring. How about sausages and mashed potatO?
Check the fridge-there’s only mouldy cheese and two grapeS
Even with my skills, I can’t make much with thaT
What I really want is sweeties, shame there’s only a kiwI
Phew, food dilemma over. I’ve been invited to a picinC!”
“ACROSTIC IN THE MIDDLE
Fancy Writing A Poem?
Pi C k a topic of your choice
You can w R ite about anything
Let y O ur imagination run wild
Choo S e the right words
Writing your T houghts on paper
Nothing is I mpossible
Be C reative!”
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Write the place of your choice down the length of the page.
Start Expanding!
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7-Minute Poetry Challenge #22-Surprise!
Poetry Challenge #22
Surprise!
Look around you. What do you see that surprises you? The house plants that have added new leaves and height? Dust covering a surface you just cleaned? The red flash of a cardinal in the winter landscape?
List as many things as you can and then rearrange them to make a poem. Think about the order and the sound of the words and what makes it the most surprising poem you can make.
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
*Drum Roll Please! Cindy Faughnan & I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 700 days ago. 700!!! 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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7-Minute Poetry Challenge #21-Inside Out, Upside Down & Backwards
Gotta love DIY videos! And the folks who take the time to find them--like daughter Lexi, who solved one of the great frustrations of my life with the link to one short clip: HOW TO PUT ON A DUVET COVER Thank you Lexi!
WARNING: Not all DIY tips work (neither do all poetry prompts) . . .
Dang duvet cover won't behave...
That being said, while Lexi and I were step-by-step smoothing, rolling and unrolling our perfectly stuffed duvet, (maybe because my upper half was not fully inside the cover as usual), a 7-minute poetry prompt popped into my noggin. (And, if you have a few moments left after you finish and need a laugh, click on the DIY Projects Gone Wrong link below.) Here Goes.
Poetry Challenge #21
INSIDE OUT, UPSIDE DOWN & BACKWARDS!
Begin by taking a minute to read through the poems you've already written and select one you think is HORRIBLE! or one you are excited to revise.
First: Giving yourself a pat on the back for having written it!
Now: Mix it up. Pluck a line out of the middle and move it to the beginning; move the last line to the first; the first line to the end, etc. etc. And so forth . . .
Why? Sometimes a poem is like a duvet cover, you've got to turn it inside out to make it work!
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Mix It Up, Baby!
Have FUN!
Upside Down, Inside Out & Backwards Playlist:
- HOW TO PUT ON A DUVET COVER
- DYI Projects Gone Wrong
- Upside Down by Joe Jackson
- Upside Down Boy You're Turning Me by Diana Ross
- Shake It Up Baby from Ferris Bueller's Day Off
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge at more than 680 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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7-Minute Poetry Challenge #20-Memory Game
Do you know some poems? Did you ever have to memorize a poem for school? Have you memorized a poem just for the fun of it?
When my kids were little, they memorized Shel's poems. Lexi proudly recited her fav: Eighteen Flavors.
Memorizing poems helps you feel the rhythm and rhyme (if there is one) and forces you to look at each word more closely. Plus, you can recite a poem to get through a tough time or to put yourself to sleep. Amazing the uses!
Poetry Challenge #20
Memorize a Poem Day!
Today, instead of writing a new poem, read some favorites and pick a verse or two or the whole thing to memorize. Say it aloud! Say it in your head! Say it while walking or doing chores or waiting in line.
Some of Cindy's favorite poems—and ones she knows some or all of—include C.S. Lewis’s “The Walrus and the Carpenter”, lots of Robert Frost (“Fire and Ice”, “The Road Not Taken”, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”), Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shallot”, Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and many others.
“I never saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one,
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I’d rather see than be one! ”
My favorite poems—those I can still recite—are "Hickory Dickory Dock", "Little Jack Horner" and others by Mother Goose, Lewis Carol's "Jabberwocky", "Itsy Bitsy Spider", and the inspiration for my picture book One Day I Went Rambling, "One Day I Went Walking" by Valine Hobbs.
What are your favorite poems? Click on it, one listed here, or a brand new discovery (don't we love the Internet for this?) and get to it:
- Set the timer . . .
- Start Memorizing. . .
- Surprise Yourself!
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge at least 690 days ago WHOA... 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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7-Minute Poetry Challenge #19-Zippity-Doodle
"Play Time! Before words came letter, before letters came doodles. According to those in the know, doodling, scribbling, drawing taps into your creative brain--the play filled side. So what happens if we get into a playful mood first, then begin writing?
Sometime, in a bygone blog, while attending a Kindling Words retreat during which we doodled before writing each morning, I wrote about the science behind how doodling taps into creative corners and our subconscious in different and surprising ways. (I tried to find the post so I could link to it here and seem tres tech savvy and marketing wise, but instead I was sucked into rereading and remembering. It was fun and dang I've been blogging a long, long time. ...)
Anyways, back to the topic at hand: Giving yourself "Permission to Play," as Carin Channing, creator of 365 DAYS OF DOODLING, a book Cindy and I are currently using to find our playground voices. Time to "Climb Back into the Sandbox, People!"
Here's an interview with Carin Channing & your can order her book everywhere!
Poetry Challenge #19
It's a Zippity-Doodle Kind of Day!
Start with a blank sheet of paper and pencil (or pen). Doodle your idea of zippity. Zippity might be a thing, a place or a feeling. Now write a short poem, no more than 10 words about your Zippity Doodle!
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start doodling!
Don’t think; just do it.
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge at more than 670 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!
Want the 7-Minute Stretch sent to your email? Click on SUBSCRIBE to receive email notification when entries are posted on Kelly's Fishbowl
7-Minute Poetry Challenge #13--Smell That Smell . . .
P. U. what stinks?
Which sense is most important?
My Internet research session determined, that the sense of smell wins hands-down . . .
Or, should we say noses-pinched . . .
Why? Smell lingers longer in our minds, and is more closely linked to memory than our other senses.
"Smell is the sense most linked to our emotional recollection."
It follows that tapping into our sense of smell would inspire a more visceral response to our poetry, and this give it more impact.
Easy to say, but hard to do, right?
Why is it so easy to describe things in terms of how they look, feel, taste, sound, but so hard to describe how they smell? Beats me. Let’s give it a try anyway.
Poetry Challenge #13
Smell That Smell . . .
Take a moment to recall a smell. Now write a poem describing it—without comparing it to another smell.
I agree, this challenge stinks…
Futhermore, or What Curious Minds Want to Nose:
For some science behind smells, click here: Psychology and Smell http://www.fifthsense.org.uk/psychology-and-smell/
For a Rockin' inspirations, click here: Lynyrd Skynyrd Band singing Smell That Smell
For 19 more about smells, click here: "Fascinating Facts About Smells"
*Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge at least 630 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge be sure to let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole dang poem, in the comments!
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7-Minute Poetry Challenge #12-I Like . . . I Love . . .
Brown paper packages tied . . .
I like it! I love it! I want some more of it!
That song by Tim McGraw popped into my head when I read this week's poetry challenge. (I hope that's what you're thinking too, if you clicked over for this week' challenge!) And then, after reading the challenge, Julie Andrews, the Von Trapp kids and a thunder storm chimed in--image the cacophony!
Whiskers on . . .
If you're just joining us, welcome! (And if Tim McGraw's song's not your speed, dial up some Sound of Music, grab a pen and let's go:
Raindrops on . .
Poetry Challenge #12
I like…I love…
List five small things that make you really happy. It could be a thrush singing, hot fudge, a puppy, anything. Add specific details to each thing. Make yourself smile. Try to use alliteration (same beginning sounds). Rearrange them until they’re in the best order for your poem.
Set the timer for 7 minutes.
Start writing!
Don’t think about it too much; just do it.
For Inspiration take a listen:
*Cindy and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 620 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge be sure to let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole dang poem, in the comments!