Grab your pen or pencil and your notebook. Set the timer for 7 minutes and WRITE!!!
In honor of poet, singer-songwriter, cartoonist, screenwriter, and children’s author Shel Silverstein’s birthday (Sept 25, 1930) write a silly-funny poem about a made-up animal–or the perfect birthday party. For inspiration, read one of Shel Silverstein’s Birthday poems:
Back to School—ABC’s
I remember the excitement of going back to school every year, both as a student and a teacher. Friends to see, things to learn, books to read! I barely slept the night before. Always, I loved getting back to the schedule of fall.
Write one line—five words—that begin in order with the letters A, B, C, D, E.
This line will be the first line of your poem.
Add four more lines. Try to begin line 2 with B, line 3 with C, line 4 with D, and line 5 with E.
That’s it! If you try this, let me know in the comments! I’d love to see what you come up with.
Remember the rules:
Don’t think about it too much; just do it. Write a poem, paragraph, or story. If the prompt moves you, follow it. If it sparks something else, go with it! Our 7-Minute Poetry Challenge is not about writing great poetry; or writing what is expected; it’s not even about writing anything good. It’s about one thing, writing IT!
Five hundred and forty three days ago, my friend Kelly and I challenged each other to write a poem every day. 543 days!!! We promised each other we would spend at least seven minutes each day and have gone through two books of prompts.
Now we’re creating our own prompts. We’ll be posting samples of our prompts each week. We hope you might try them and post them to either Kelly’s or my blog.
The rules are simple:
Don’t think about it too much; just do it. Write a poem, paragraph, or story. If the prompt moves you, follow it. If it sparks something else, go with it! Our 7-Minute Poetry Challenge is not about writing great poetry; or writing what is expected; it’s not even about writing anything good. It’s about one thing, writing IT!
Challenge #1 Ready for School!?
On the first day of school what things do you bring? A backpack? Pen? Paper? Maybe you’ll wear a new pair of jeans or sneakers.
Think about it: Not only will it be your first day of school, it will be that “things” first day of school, too.
How do you think those “things” feel about going to school for the first time? Write a “First Day of School” poem from the point of view of one of those things.
Note: It can be the first day of anything. Just tell the story from the point of view of one of the things you bring with you that first day.
For inspiration read: School’s First Day of School, written by Adam Rex and illustrated by Christian Robinson (Roaring Brook Press, 2016), the story of the first day of school as told by Fredrick Douglass Elementary—a brand new school building.
To see samples from this prompt (and a cute picture of my niece and nephew) visit Kelly’s blog: http://kellybennett.com/blog/2017/9/seven-minute-strrretch