Poetry Challenge #224 Ticking Along
Tick-Tock. Tick-Tock The clock is ticking, running fast. Tick-Tock Tick-Tock…
Yesterday was National Tick Tock Day (Dec. 29th). In a matter of hours this year that has ticked by sooooooo quickly will be over . . .
Have you done everything you need to do before the end of the year? Do it just now…but first:
Poetry Challenge #224
The Clock’s Ticking
Tick Tock.
Tick
Tick Tick
TALK
Write a poem with one or two words on each line. Listen to the rhythm. Listen to the sounds. Does it sound like a wristwatch or a grandfather clock.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
For inspiration, here are 11 songs with Time in the Title. Maybe you can write one of your own!
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack
Feels Like the First Time by Foreigner
Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper
I’ve Had the Time of My Life by David Cook
Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce
Love Me Two Times by The Doors
Any Time at All by the Beatles
Does Anybody Really Know What Time it is? by Chicago
Time is on my Side by The Rolling Stones
As Time Goes By sung by Jimmy Durante
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.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .
Calling All Finpals!
Norman T. Goldfish answers letters from readers. Click on the link to read his reply.
Poetry Challenge #223-'Tis the Season!
It’s that time of year. It’s December 22nd, and no matter what we celebrate or where we live, we are all racing around trying to do too much all at once and everything else too—all the while trying to keep it real and still make it special. Right? The last thing you have time or energy for is writing a new poem. True? So I won’t ask you to. Promise.
Poetry Challenge #223
Tis the Season
First: Take one minute. One. 60 seconds to sort through some of the poems you’ve already written. Select one that you absolutely do not think works. One that you wrote on your least inspired day. One that, if a whole stack of your poetry blew across the room and out the window, you would race after first just so you could grab it before anyone else had a chance to read it. Yep. That one.
Now: Think of the Season: whether it’s Christmas, Kwanza, Hanukkah, winter in the Northern Hemisphere; summer in the South . . . What does Tis the Season mean to you?
Finally: Using words, images, sounds, and smells of the season, turn your hideous poem into a seasonal sensation! Twist it, change it, rearrange it, rhyme it, line it, redefine it. Sprinkle it with elf dust if you must. Surprise yourself!
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
HAPPY CELEBRATING! Wishing you health and joy!
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.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .
Fin Pal to Norman: Do You Like Pizza?
Norman T. Goldfish answers letters from readers. Click on the link to read his reply.
Do you like pizza? What about orange? Some people put orange cheese on their pizza. Some people put fruit on their pizza. But I’ve never seen anyone put orange fruit on their pizza…have you? Some humans put fish on their pizza, too. Norman would never put a human on his pizza…or would he?
Ready to read Norman’s answer? Scroll down . . .
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
Just as we humans can get sick from eating things that are not good for us, goldfish can too. So unless your pizza is made of seaweed topped with freeze-dried brine shrimp, don’t fee it to your goldfish!
Here’s more from the Fish Vet on What and How to Feed your Goldfish.
Do you have a question for Norman the Goldfish—about friends, school, pets, family, life in and outside the fishbowl? Send him a letter!
Poetry Challenge #222-Calling All Cat Herders!
Boots? Check! Hat? Check! Lasso? Check! Yeehaw! Y’all get ready for today, Dec 15, is officially National Cat Herders Day!
Thomas and Ruth Roy from Wellcat.com, herb growers and quirky holiday creators, invented Cat Herders Day to honor not cats, or cat herders (well maybe cat herder’s too.) but mostly people who’s jobs are challenging, chaotic, crA-ZZZ-y! Now it’s a thing.
Poetry Challenge #222
Calling All Cat Herders!
If you’ve ever tried to get a cat to do what you want it to do, you know that’s close to impossible. Now imagine a whole group of cats. Listed below are a bunch of cat types. Herd as many as you can into a poem—extra credit if the poem is NOT about cats.
Persian, Main Coon, Bengal, British Shorthair, Siamese, Sphinx, Ragdoll, Munchkin, Scottish Fold, Norwegian Forest, Savannah, Siberian, Polydactyl, Snowshoe, Calico
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
And while we’re on the subject…
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.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .
Fin Pal to Norman: My Goldfish Died...What Do I Do Now?
Norman T. Goldfish answers letters from readers. Click on the link to read his reply.
Some Finpals write letters, some draw pictures, some e-mail. They always ask good questions, but, like this one from Tametha, they aren’t always easy to answer:
Do you have a pet? Have you ever had a pet that died? What advice do you have for Tametha?
Ready to read Norman’s answer? Scroll down . . .
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
Goldfish, like all pets, do require special care. Even still, they do die. That is the sad part of keeping pets.
Sometimes goldfish die because they are old.
Some die because they are sick.
Some time we feed them too much, or too little.
If you add water to their fishbowl that is colder or warmer or not treated to take chemicals out, they can die too.
Sometimes goldfish die for no reason we know..
Before you get another goldfish, or any pet, the best way to be sure you treat it well is to read about how to care for it. Find books about how to care for pets, like goldfish, in the library and on websites. Here’s a How to Care for Goldfish guide from Aquariumkids.org
Do you have a question for Norman the Goldfish—about friends, school, pets, family, life in and outside the fishbowl? Send him a letter!
Poetry Challenge #221-Buckle Up Sherman!
Let’s pretend! Just for today—because, after all, it is December 8th, National Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day. Begun by GEEK USA, participants must “spend the entire day in costume in character. The only rule is that you can not actually tell anyone that you are a time traveler.”
Poetry Challenge #221
Buckle Up Sherman!
Pretend that Doc Brown’s DeLorean or Mr. Peabody’s Time Travel Machine really works, and you can go back-back-back in time as far as you’d like, to any place you’d like. Or, if you’d rather, you can zoom-zoom forward into the future. Where would you go? To when? Why? What would you be wearing? How would you speak?
Write a poem about your travels, but, building on GEEK USA rules, do not tell us exactly where you go and when. Instead, use evocative description & dialogue to show us.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
“Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!”….whoops, wrong show. . . “Ready, Marty?”
For inspiration, here are a few time Time Traveler books, something for everyone:
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.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .
Fin Pals ask Norman the Goldfish: How Do You Dance?
Norman T. Goldfish answers letters from readers. Click on the link to read his reply.
In Norman One Amazing Goldfish, Norman’s human enters our fishy friend in Pet-O-Rama but Norman gets stage fright and is too scared to move. (Does that ever happen to you?) Finally, with help from his human, Norman does dance, doesn’t he? And not just any dance, either. Take a look:
Norman flip-flop wiggle-waggle dances like crazy, doesn’t he? How do you think he does it?
Ready to read Norman’s answer? Scroll down . . .
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
Wouldn’t this be a great time to read (or reread) NORMAN ONE AMAZING GOLDFISH again? Click on the cover below for ordering info—and a fintastic read aloud!
