Poetry Challenge #159-Chew On This!
Double mint chewing gum/it’s the one/tastes so fun/made for me and you…
For much of my young life, that jingle—like the gum it touted—was stuck in my head. I resurrected it and a few others especially for today, September 30th—otherwise celebrated as National Chewing Gum Day!
Gift for my 17th birthday & blatant product placement…
“Get your skis shined up, grab a stick of Juicy Fruit — the taste is gonna move you! Move you up! Move you out! The taste is gonna move you when you pop it in your mouth!
Juicy Fruit is gonna move ya! It’s got a taste that gets right through ya!”
Along with digging through drawers and bags for a stray stick, I dug up some chewing gum history (and finally broke down and “treated” myself to a chipped gumball from my ancient dispenser.) Chewing on:
“Kiss a little longer, stay close a little longer, hold tight a little longer — longer with Big Red!”
Seems as long as humans have been walking upright, they’ve been chewing some sort of gum. Evidence, dating back more than 5,000 years, shows humans chewing gum-like substances: sap resin, tar, bark, wax, gristle, for various reasons: staving off hunger, freshening breath, working out nervous energy—you name it, apparently they chewed it. So maybe it’s true that gum isn’t digestible and thus stays forever in one’s stomach (otherwise how would they know?)
To paraphrase Cole Porter:
Mayans chewed it, Greeks chewed it, even Neanderthals in skins chewed. They chewed it—Babe Ruth did, too! How’s about yoooouuuuuuu.
When I think of gum—aside from it being stuck—in hair, on sofas, clothing…shoes—and chewing, it’s the jingles. Which lead to this prompt.
Poetry Challenge #159
Chew on This!
Pop a stick of gum into your gob—literally or figuratively—and chew away. There you go: chew, chew, chew. Now, with that repetitive rhythm in mind, write a poem.
The subject of the poem doesn’t have to be chewing gum. It can be, of course. Whichever subject you choose—be it chewing gum or otherwise—focus on the rhythm, that repetitive chewing action. Try to get that repetitive motion and sound into your poem.
If you’d like to chomp off a bigger challenge, see if you can shape your poem into a jingle.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing
Don’t Think Too Much About it; Just chew-chew-chew it!
More to chew on:
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than SIXTEEN HUNDRED days ago! (without a miss!!!) 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. And scroll down for my happy news:
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Life in the Time of CoVid-Day 188 Lockdown-Everybody! Do It!
September 29, 2020—Day 188 SA Lockdown; Day 200 US Lockdown:
Ben Does It Swinging
That is 6 months, 4 days of my personal Lockdown, isolation, social distancing, virtual meetings, constant low-level/high-level anxiety . . . Yes, if you are in the U.S and caring, your Lockdown count should be higher. (I was blissfully holidaying, cavorting, hugging, karaoking in S.A. when the U.S. public was made aware of the treat, otherwise my Lockdown day count would be 200, too.)
Worldwide: More than One Million people are confirmed dead from CoVid. That is 1,000,000 children, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, neighbors, colleagues, friends gone.
SA: 672,000 confirmed cases; 16,586 deaths; US: 7.18 million cases; 205,000 deaths.
And still, every day I am out—which is every day as I am one of the lucky (healthy) people who can get out—I see people either not wearing masks when within 6 ft perimeter of others, and what’s worse sort of waggling said masks about as if they were accessories and not necessities.
Jack Does it PIcking Blueberries
In the meantime, my mother, who lives in an assisted living facility, has not been outside, or had a casual visitor in 200 days. Day before yesterday, Mom called, delighted—and a tad nervous, but in that “I’m going to the prom” way to announce that they were reopening the dining room on Oct. 1st.
Mom, had her outfit all picked out for that first dinner “out.” What’s more, I’d just a few days earlier, received a note that the facility, officially Co-Vid free, was exploring how to allow visitors! Of which I, would absolutely be one!
So much for that fantasy… One of Mom’s primary caregivers, Chelsie. The “adorable girl” who brings mom art supplies, rubs her arthricit feet, fixes her hair and puts in earrings—brings light, joy, music into my mom’s tiny room—just tested positive with CoVid. Chelsie is home ill. Not in the hospital. And hopefully will not need to be hospitalized.
…You Can Too! Just do It!
I can not help wondering, who contaminated Chelsie—an “essential worker” the only barrier between Mom and other at-risk people: children, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, neighbors, colleagues, friends . . .
My new favorite compliment:
Love Your Mask!
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Goldfish to Artist: Interview & Give Away: Noah Z Jones...About that Sweatband?
One Amazing Interview with Noah Z Jones, the artist/creator of our finny goldfish, yes…Norman!
Noah Z Jones: the Human, the Artist & Goldfish Imaginer, the Disposal:
NTG: Do you have a pet? If so, what kind and what’s its name?
NZG: We’ve got three pets. A hermit crab named Pineapple and two loafy guinea pigs, Hippo and Panda. Pineapple makes weird squeaky noises in the middle of the night and Hippo likes to take Panda’s lettuce when she’s not looking.
NTG: What is your favorite food?
NZJ: Tacos. Always tacos. From now until the end of time it’s tacos. And Fruity Pebbles. But mostly tacos.
NTG: If I’d had a bigger breakfast maybe I wouldn’t have been so nervous.”
NTG: Any food you would not eat—even for a million dollars?
NZJ: Look, I’m gonna be honest, I’m like a garbage disposal. I’ll try anything once.
NTG: What is your favorite thing to do when you are not working?
NZJ: Naps. Give me a couch, a nice pillow and twenty minutes to doze and I’m the happiest person on Earth.
Kelly & Noah finally met years after NOT NORMAN was published—they were guppies!
Then (When you were a kid):
NTG: What did you like to do best?
NZJ: Draw and read. That’s all I used to do. And watch Saturday morning cartoons.
NTG: What was your favorite subject in school?
NZJ: Art! I loved it. I knew I wanted to be an artist when I grew up from the time I was in second grade or so.
NTG: Did you have a best friend or pet? (If yes, what kind and what was his-her-its-their name?)
NZJ: My best friend was a kid named Jon Tarr. By the time he was in sixth grade Jon had cracked his skull five times, on accident of course. I was only there for two of the skull crackings. This is real. Hi Jon!
NTG: What was/is your favorite kid movie or TV show?
Norman One Amazing Goldfish sketches—the eyebrows have it!
NZJ: Movie would be a tie between MATILDA and BABE, they’re both SOO good. When I was a kid I loved THE INCREDIBLE HULK, I loved imagining turning green and smashing things.
ALL THINGS NORMAN:
NTG: How do you get me to show so much emotion? (And what’s with the sweatband?)
NZJ: It’s all in the eyebrows! Most of my drawings of characters start with the eyes and eyebrows. Some people say eyes are the window into a person’s soul, but I say it’s clearly the eyebrows. OF COURSE NORMAN NEEDS A SWEATBAND!! The little fish is always sweating up a storm.
NTG: Do you do all the illustrations on the computer? Or do you draw some by hand? How does that work? Can you describe your process a bit?
NZJ: The drawings for both Norman books were all done on the computer, I like being able to change things and move parts of my drawings around and it’s so much easier to do those things digitally. I have a special kind of screen that I can draw on with a digital pen, it’s pretty cool. Though I have to say I’m always keen on drawing in paper sketchbooks, that’s where most of my ideas start.
NTG: What was it like illustrating a sequel to NOT NORMAN?
NTZ: It was fun and a little harder than I thought it would be! The first NORMAN book came out FIFTEEN YEARS AGO and my adorable fish drawin’ skill shad gotten a little rusty!
NTG: Must have been hard to top that boy-peeking-through-the-fishbowl NOT NORMAN cover for the sequel—or was it? How many ways did you try? Can you show us some?
NTZ: It was a little tricky, the first sketch for the cover got rejected…I’m sending it along so you can get a behind the scenes peek at it!
NTG: Would you like to work on another Norman the Goldfish adventure?
NZJ: YES, YES A MILLION TIMES YES!! Let’s do the first book series with a HUNDRED THOUSAND sequels!!
Last question N to N: What does your letter Z stand for? (I’ll tell you about my T is if you share your Z.)
To see samples of Noah’s cartoons, animation, antics—and to find out what he’s really up to, google him—that’s what we did—cyber stalking. Here’s his bio: Noah Z Jones,
Glu-glu glu-glug And don’t forget: A GIVEAWAY!
One Amazing reader will win hot-off-the-press, a Copy of NORMAN’S ONE AMAZING GOLDFISH!!!!
To enter: Leave one comment below. A random winner will be selected in a couple weeks!
Glug Luck!
P.S. Keep reading…there’s more down below…
Poetry Challenge #158-Mine for Lines--Foundlings
“Nikki Grimes” saying her name is synonymous with poetry. The way Nikki lives, loves, creates is pure poetry—as are her books! I keep a copy of her WORDS WITH WINGS on my desk-always!
A few years back I was gifted with a week of mornings with Nikki at Kindling Words West. If you’re not familiar with KW it’s a “professional retreat for the children’s book world.” To continue:
Fellow attendee, SCBWI-Houston bud, Force of an Author, Lynne Kelly was there too.
While I soaked up Nikki’s magic, Lynne shared snippets of what Nikki sprinkled us with on her blog: “Making Stuff Up and Writing it Down” including Nikki’s instructions for creating Found Poems which, to non-poet me felt like validating paint-by-number as “art”. It sort of kind of feels like cheating—but also like an easy way in. I can do easy!
Nikki’s magic doesn’t come in a jar!
Poetry Challenge #158
Mine for Lines-Foundlings
Its time to revise. Read through some of your previous poems and “find gems”—favorite lines or phrases or words. Use these foundlings to create a new poem. You might decide to only mine one poem.
Or, maybe even more exciting: stir things up by combining foundlings from several poem to create your new poem. Surprise yourself!
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing
Don’t Think Too Much About it; Just do it!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than SIXTEEN HUNDRED days ago! (without a miss!!!) 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. And scroll down for my happy news:
Click on Fishbowl link below and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
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Poetry Challenge #157-Cinnamon Raisin Kind of Day
Cinnamon Raisin Bread… Cinnamon Raisin Bread… Cinnamon Raisin Bread…
Can’t you imagine the smell? Cinnamon, sweet with sugar. Yeasty smell of freshly baked bread. Tangy saucy raisins daring to be plucked… Stomach growling?
With it’s swirly cinnamon sugar yummy-ness, who (aside from my friend, Liz) would/could say “no” to a freshly baked slice? Statistically speaking, not many:
“In bakeries across the country, we request cinnamon raisin bread more often than many others.”—I got that on the best authority; the 2020 National Day Calendar.
Poetry Challenge #157
Cinnamon Raisin Kind of Day
In honor of National Cinnamon Raisin Bread Day (celebrated every September 16th—for what reason no one knows) write a poem about the smell, taste, anticipation of something you remember in the oven.
Pay attention to the images in your poem that will help the reader picture the time, place, people, and food.
Now: Try breaking your poem between every 2 lines. Play with the last words on the lines like the poet in the following example:
“The Last Swim of Summer
by Faith Shearin
Our pool is still blue but a few leaves
have fallen, floating on the surface
of summer. The other swimmers
went home last week, tossed
their faded bathing suits aside,
so my daughter and I are alone
in the water which has grown colder
like a man’s hand at the end of
a romance. The lifeguard is under
her umbrella but her bags are packed
for college. We are swimming against
change, remembering the endless
shores of June: the light like lemonade,
fireflies inside our cupped hands,
watermelon night. We are swimming
towards the darkness of what
is next, walking away from the sounds
of laughter and splashing, towels
wrapped around the dampness of our loss.”
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing
Don’t Think Too Much About it; Just do it!
As a reward, treat yourself to a loaf. BTW: Cinnamon Raisin Bread is, oddly fun to watch so here’s a video from allrecipes.com.
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than SIXTEEN HUNDRED days ago! (without a miss!!!) 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. And scroll down for my happy news:
Click on Fishbowl link below and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FISHBOWL
Ask Norman: Is Life in the Fish Tank Fun?
Hey Kids! What do you think Norman does for fun in the fish tank? Does he like it more or less than his fishbowl?
Here’s a scene from NORMAN ONE AMAZING GOLDFISH showing him in his fish tank. Imagine you are our finny goldfish Norman. What would you do for fun?
Scroll down to see what Norman wrote back to Tanner:
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 #156-Fuzzy Wuzzy Was a . . . Ferret?
If Theodore Roosevelt hadn’t been a hunter; if he had not refused to shoot the tired old bear guides had trapped to the tree expressly so the 26th President would have had a clear shot; and if cartoonist Clifford Berryman hadn’t immortalized the moment in a that 1902 Washington Post cartoon (and many others), what animal would kiddles cuddle up with an night? A stuffed pig maybe? Or a ferret?
We’ll never know, will we? For, as the story goes that cartoon gave Brooklyn candy store owner, Morris Michtom, a grand idea. Michtom created a new stuffed toy, and after writing to the president asking his permission, named it after him, “Teddy Bear.”
Poetry Challenge #156
Teddy, Oh, Teddy!
In celebration of National Teddy Bear Day, September 9th, write a sonnet in the spirit of Elizabeth Browning’s, “How Do I love Thee,” (Sonnet 43). You might even begin your sonnet the same way Browning began hers:
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. . .
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing
Don’t Think Too Much About it; Just do it!
And, while we’re on the subject of Teddy’s—they aren’t just for squishing; they’re for reading time, too!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1580ish days ago! (without a miss!!!) 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. And scroll down for my happy news:
Click on Fishbowl link below and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
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Poetry Challenge #155-No Rhyme Nor Reason
Today, September 1st is No Rhyme (nor Reason) Day. A day set aside to honor, recognize, pay tribute to “words that do not rhyme with any other words in the English language.” (Why September 1st? no one seems to know.)
Rhymeless words are called refractory rhymes. According to the National Days Calendar, “Poets reason that avoiding these words helps keep their poetry consistent. However, refractory words only interrupt poems where rhyme and reason matter.”
WAH-WAH-WAH! scoff some, fecklessly taking on rhymeless words the way bulls (other than Ferdinand) challenge red sashes by fabricating words ala Lewis Carroll, or using proper names to make the rhyme.
Others get around the pesky rhyme issue by adding a suffix to rhymeless words, such as changing month to month-o, or orange to orangine, orangish, orangey, oranguar, etc. etc. and so forth . . .
Poetry Challenge #155
No Rhyme Nor Reason
Below is a list of rhymeless words, with no reason other than having fun, write a rhyming poem:
Use one or two… or even a few. Long or short, funny or not, we care not a jot—it’s completely up to you!
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing
Don’t Think Too Much About it; Just do it!
More No Rhyme nor Reason Reading:
National No Rhyme (nor Reason) Day: #NoRhymeNorReasonDay
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge more than 1580ish days ago! (without a miss!!!) 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. And scroll down for my happy news:
