Hee. I don't really have a post today, but I wanted to point anyone passing through that Buffy Silverman's host-post today features her own "Things To Do If You Are" poems. She was inspired by Elaine Magliaro's Things to Do poem in Falling Down the Page, and Elaine was originally inspired by the great Bobbi Katz, who as far as I know originated the "Things to Do" form.
Oh wait--I do have a post! Here's one of Bobbi's early Things to Do poems, from her book Upside Down and Inside Out: Poems for All Your Pockets (1973).
Things to Do If You Are a Subway || Bobbi Katz
Pretend you are a dragon.
Live in underground caves.
Roar about underneath the city.
Swallow piles of people.
Spit them out at the next station.
Zoom through the darkness.
Be an express.
Go fast.
Make as much noise as you please.
*********************
You can see how great a mentor text this is for younger children in particular--it's pretend play in writing, with no plot or rhyme or syllable count--just pure metaphor.
Thanks for stopping by to read this post-that-created-itself!
I'm tossing out an old pitch today, a poem from
Pumpkin Butterfly that 's just full of those -CHs I love so muCH. Without further ado (and with deep longing for more of the hint of warmth that we got in Bethesda today)....
Cherry Very
Be sneaky, be cheeky
Pinch from the kitchen
The reddest, the roundest there are
A bowl full of cherries
a bowl of the very
most cherriest bombs by far
Backbone straight
Step up to the plate
Puff up your chest and lungs
Swallow the fruit
Ready to shoot
Put the pit in the groove of your tongue
One more tip:
Round your lips
To launch it without a hitch
Don’t get tense
Aim for the fence
Wind up like you’re fixing to pitch
Now blast it hard
Across the yard
Kissing that missile goodbye
It’s over the fence!
It’s out of the park!
It’s a letloose cherryjuice
noschool slobberdrool
spitwhistle summerfun home run!
HM 2009
all rights reserved
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And what
cherry pits are you spittin' I mean pitCHing at us today? I heard a rumor that we might have some kids' work coming our way today....CHampion!
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In case you're just joining us, I and several intrepid poets (including you!) are writing 20 new poems this month in the Forward...MarCH Poetry CHallenge. I've selected 20 verbs ending in -CH (the list is here) and today's word is "smooCH". I guess I was in the mood for birthday kisses....
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This one is a double challenge--it's crossposted over at the Monday Poetry Stretch with Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect, where the CHarge is to write an ottava rima.
Birthday Ottava Rima
The day approaches like a kiss,
a smooch from the universe.
"Welcome, honeybunch! Follow your bliss!
Look what’s in your purse:
shiny swatch of that and this
Book of Blessing, chapter and verse,
penny and pebble and pocketwatch
for candy, hypnosis and hopscotch.“
The day begins each year like a kiss,
a smooch from the universe.
“Forward, honeybunch! Follow your bliss!
There's nothing to do but immerse
yourself in this life. Nothing's amiss--
or at least it could always be worse."
Bewitched by blessing, I follow a hunch:
I invite the whole world over for lunch.
HM 2015
all rights reserved
Who's smooching who today? Leave your poem in the comments or send me an email!
Welcome to Week Two of the Forward...MarCH CHallenge, in which I and other intrepid souls will compose five more poems using five more punCHy, active words ending in -CH.
Today's word is "preaCH," and here I go:
The Good News
Preacher stands in the pulpit,
reads the sermon for the day,
each word settling heavy and deep;
all our little gaps are filled. We
carry those heavy words
home; they don’t carry us.
HM 2015
all rights reserved
My, that came out a little dark (don't take it personally, Dad). I had some other ideas for today's word also--the birds singing over the melting snow this warmer weekend are preaching spring for sure--but lesson plans beckon.
Margaret Simon joins us for the first time this month with a lovely tanka, and wants us to know that a coulee is a ditCH in South Louisiana (not be confused with a coulis, which you pour over your dessert. They both flow). This is in response to the
Ditty of the Month Club challenge to write a tanka with Margarita Engle. Margaret will be posting this poem on her blog along with the description of how it came to be, inspired by a photo challenge from Kim Douillard.
Sun overlooks
blessing a lonely smoke stack.
Coulee wildflowers
preach yellow sonnets
while moon graces morning clouds.
--Margaret Simon
Donna Smith returns with a bonus double acrostic reverso using the word churCH instead of preaCH. Fancy stuff that works for me!
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forward...preaCH as of 3/8/2015 6:30:00 PM
It's March 4th and we march forth with today's word, "twitCH." Which twitch are you writing about today?
A Knotty Problem
When she’s learning to tie her shoes,
crossing and
looping and
wrapping the laces,
the slightest twitch
of a nervous thumb
can cause a beginner to lose
her places!
HM 2015
all rights reserved
Leave your poem in the comments, or send me an email by clicking the link at right.
