Poetry Challenge #295-This Land is Your Land
Joy Harjo is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation—our first Native American Poet Laureate! She was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on May 9, 1951, lives in Tulsa now, as she did during my years in Tulsa, and so in a way, I feel she is my personal poet.
However, after having served three terms as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States (from 2019-2022), for the past several years she has been all of our poet.
“I feel strongly that I have a responsibility to all the sources that I am: to all past and future ancestors, to my home country, to all places that I touch down on and that are myself, to all voices, all women, all of my tribe, all people, all earth, and beyond that to all beginnings and endings.”
-Joy Harjo
An internationally renowned performer and writer, Joy Harjo is the author of ten books of poetry, including Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years, plays, memoires, and children’s books including a new picture book of her poem “Remember.” As a musician and performer, she has produced seven award-winning music albums including her newest, I Pray for My Enemies. She was the first Artist-in-Residence for Tulsa's Bob Dylan Center.
Poetry Challenge #295
This Land is Your Land
About her work, Poetry Foundation says: “Harjo draws on First Nation storytelling and histories, as well as feminist and social justice poetic traditions, and frequently incorporates indigenous myths, symbols, and values into her writing. Her poetry inhabits landscapes—the Southwest, Southeast, but also Alaska and Hawaii—and centers around the need for remembrance and transcendence.”
For this prompt, write a “Place” poem.
As an example, consider Harjo’s “Invisible Fish” (above) and how by using a few specific words she transports us to that dusty, desert. Try to likewise infuse your poem with symbols, myths, values specific to that place.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, Write It!
Experience Joy Harjo’s Eagle Poem yourself; her words in her voice: Eagle Poem - Audio Poem of the Day | Poetry Foundation
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2400+ 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.
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Poetry Challenge #294-Truth in the Night
Tra-lah! It’s May! The Lusty month of May! Let’s celebrate with another May, known for writing poetry and novels as true as the green of spring, fresh and pungent as pavement after a rain: poet/novelist May Sarton!
Born Eleanore Marie Sarton on May 3, 1912, in Belgium, her family moved to Cambridge, Mass in 1916 to escape the German army during WW1.
To say Sarton was born a poet, is no stretch. Her first series of sonnets was published when she was seventeen, in Poetry magazine, and seven years later in her first published collection, Encounter in April.
May Sarton wrote poetry, novels, documentary scripts for the war office… Unabashedly—shockingly to some—Sarton shared her truth. Truths many didn’t want to read, at the time, but that didn’t dull her quill.
“Examined as a whole," Lenora P. Blouin wrote in May Sarton: A Bibliography, "the body of May Sarton's writing is almost overwhelming. It reveals an artist who has not remained stagnant or afraid of change. 'Truth,' especially the truth within herself, has been her life-long quest."
Poetry Challenge #294
Truth in the Night
In her poem Bliss (above), Sarton takes us into her bedroom to see, hear, feel with her as she lay away in the middle of the night. It’s a simple moment and Sarton’s language is simple, but rich.
For this prompt, think of one time, one moment, one special place.
Write a poem describing the look, feel, sound of that moment.
Conclude your poem as Sarton did in “Bliss,” with a line summarizing the feeling that moment evokes in you.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, Play like Millay!
May Sarton’s poetry and especially her novels are fabulous reading. Here’s Early Bird Books List of May Sarton’s Best Books.
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2400+ 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 . . .
Poetry Challenge #293-Brush Up Your Shakespeare
Everyone has heard of William Shakespeare, whose birthday could be today since the exact date isn’t known. Records show he was baptized in April 1564. (If you know how or why April 26th is the date we celebrate let us know.)
We know the Bard wrote at least 39 dramatic plays, many of which are still regularly performed.
And, according to Oxford, added 1700 words to the English language. (There’s some debate about the veracity of that number but he’s credited with 420 for sure.) Here’s a list—No. Stop! Don’t look at the list now. Save the clicking for later. NOW…It’s Shakespeare’s day, join the celebration!
Hit it Cole! Brush Up Your Shakespeare, start quoting him now… from Kiss Me Kate:
Poetry Challenge #293
Brush Up Your Shakespeare
Maybe you have a favorite line from one of his plays or sonnets:
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (Sonnet XVIII)
“To be, or not to be: that is the question” (Hamlet)
“But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?” (Romeo & Juliet)
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day” (Macbeth)“All the world’s a stage
And all the men and women merely players:”
Let’s celebrate Shakespeare by putting one of his lines in a poem of your own. You can use the whole line as the first, last, or middle line of your new poem.
Or, if that doesn’t work for you, try writing one word on each line the way you would for an acrostic poem and begin your poem’s lines with the word from the quote.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, Shakespeare It!
Once you’ve finished your poem, reward yourself with a movie. There are zillions of Shakespeare inspired movies out there. Or popped some corn and go for pure fun: Shakespeare in Love!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2400+ 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 . . .
Poetry Challenge #292-Ethridge Knight, Simile Put
Etheridge Knight was born on Apri1 19, 1931. He dropped out of high school and joined the army and was wounded in Korea, the injury led to drug addiction and in 1960, convicted of robbery, 8 years imprisonment.
While in prison, Knight, already known for giving “toasts” began to write poetry. His toasts were were precursors to rap, really, in that, as Poetry Foundation put it, Knight’s toasts were “long, memorized, narrative poems, often in rhymed couplets.”
Knight’s first poetry collection, Poems from Prison, was published in 1968. Following is a quote from the back cover:
“I died in Korea from a shrapnel wound, and narcotics resurrected me. I died in 1960 from a prison sentence and poetry brought me back to life.”
Ethridge Knight’s 1973 collection, Belly Song and Other Poems, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award.
Here’s a poem from that collection entitled, Cell Song:
Poetry Challenge #292
Simile Put
Ethridge Knight’s poetry didn’t skirt the issues, or would anyone call it “flowery.” The images and situations he writes about are vivid and visual largely because of the similes and metaphors he created, as in these examples:
For today’s prompt try describing a feeling or situation using simile or metaphor so real, raw and vivid the image comes to life on the page.
If you’d like, let that image stand alone. Or craft a poem around it.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, Image it!
For more, check out zoroboro.com for a birthday commemoration of Knight’s poem snippets and quotes.
And zip over to Poetry Foundation to access Ethridge Knight’s poems:
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2400+ 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 . . .
Poetry Challenge #291-A Little Bit Corny
Happy Birthday to poet Eric McHenry (April 12, 1972), who was the Poet Laureate of Kansas from 2015-2017.
His poems are a lot of fun. Read this sample:
Poetry Challenge #291
Little Bit Corny
Now try to mimic Eric McHenry’s poem. Tell a story in couplets (two lines that rhyme).
Notice McHenry uses 8 or 9 syllables per line.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, Write it!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2400+ 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 . . .
Poetry Challenge #289-Once More With Feeling
There are so many quotes about revision, it leads one to wonder if dreaming up pithy things to say about revision is a classic way to avoid revision…
But, not this time!
I am 99.9 % positive that nothing has been published that has never been revised.
And so it’s time…
long past time….
Take a deep breath, take out a happy colored pen (or sharpen that Ticonderoga), and let’s get to it!
Poetry Challenge #289
Once More With Feeling
Pull out a fistful of poems you’ve written as a result of these 7-minute Poetry Prompts or otherwise.
Set a timer for one (or two) minute(s).
Skim through your last few poems, looking for a word or phrase that you like. If possible, find more than one! Circle it/them.
Set your timer for six minutes (seven if you’re generous). Write the word(s) or phrase(s) you collected into a new poem.
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, Revise it!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2400+ 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 . . .
Poetry Challenge #288-Begin in Kansas . . .
March 22nd is a red-letter day! It’s officially spring! Three Two Twos—who doesn’t love saying “tutu”—and it’s the birthday of American’s Favorite Poet, Billy Collins! (If you doubt that “favorite” bit take it up with the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, Bruce Weber, who called him “the most popular poet in America.”
Billy Collins, former poet laureate of the United States (2001-2003) and New York State poet laureate (2004-2006), was born in NYC! In 1975 he cofounded the Mid-Atlantic Review with Michael Shannon, has more degrees than digits on a thermometer, receives six-figure advances on—gasp—“poetry collections,” of which he has published eleven: one-one!
An only child, Billy’s mother, a nurse, “had the ability to recite verses on almost any subject, which she often did, and cultivated in her young son the love of words, both written and spoken.” Listen up, y’all!
Why?
“[Billy Collins] puts the ‘fun’ back in profundity.”
Poetry Challenge #288
Begin in Kansas . . .
In an NPR interview* Scott Simon asked Billy Collins how his poems start in one place and end up in another. Collins response: I'm always looking to move the poem or let the poem expand or contract or turn in some unexpected direction.” Or, in his own words, his poems “Begin in Kansas and end in OZ.”
Let’s give it a try. Below is a snap of the Table of Contents from Collin’s collection of short poems, Musical Tables. And here’s what Billy C has to say about short poetry:
Thinking “Short,” choose a title from the list. Use that title in a short poem of your own. Use it as the poem’s title or in the body of the poem. Either way, see if you can’t do as Billy does and take your poem in a completely different place from where it began.
Bulldog Tutuville maybe!
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, Write Toto, Write!
*Craving more Billy Collins? Listen/read the Billy Collins on Musical Tables interview with NPR’s Scott Simon.
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2400+ 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 . . .
Poetry Challenge #290-Maya, I Will Rise!
Judy Garland may have sung “Clang-Clang-Clang goes the trolly” but Maya made that trolly GO! Today we celebrate the birthday of San Francisco’s first female streetcar conductor—an African American woman to boot—Maya Angelou!
Maya Angelou , born Marguerite Ann Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri. She had a tough life which provided plenty of fodder for her National Book Award nominated, Pulitzer Prize Awarded, Grammy Winning, mostly autobiographical novels, essays, and poems.
Here’s a bit of “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me” to give you a sense of this sensational woman:
When Maya was 15 she applied for the job of streetcar conductor. Plenty of boys her age were doing the job as were women. But because she was Black, she was rejected. Every day for three weeks she returned requesting a new application. Finally the company relented. She applied again (gave her age as 19) and thus became the first African American woman to work as a streetcar conductor in San Francisco.
Cabaret Singer
After that she was married, had a son, Guy Johnson, worked all sorts of jobs.
Her writing career took off after she joined the Harlem Writers Guild in 1959.
In 1993, Maya became the first person since Robert Frost in 1961, to recite a poem “On the Pulse of Morning,” at a President’s Inauguration.
Poetry Challenge #290
Maya, I Will Rise!
Maya Angelou’s wrote in a direct and informal voice.
Her stories are welcoming for readers as she is inviting them to share her secrets with them. She also used “persuasive and strong similes and metaphors.” www.litpriest.com
Choose a metaphor to describe an aspect of who you are.
Write an autobiographical poem using that metaphor. For example, in her first autobiographical novel, “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,” Maya Angelou compared herself to a caged bird.
Begin as Maya did with the words, “I know why” . . .
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, Write It!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2400+ 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 . . .