Month: April 2018

Pick a Number…

Do you have a favorite number? Mine is 5. You can pick your own number for this challenge or use a deck of cards or a pair of dice to come up with a random one. Same with the letter. Pick your own or draw a letter from a word game. Have fun!

1) Pick a number between 1 and 10.
2) Pick a letter.
3) Write a poem using that many syllables (or that many words) on each line.
4) Use as many words as possible beginning with your letter.
5) Write at least seven lines. Play with those words.

Here’s a poem I made up following these directions:

5, L
Lucy leaves little
lines between luscious
legumes planted in
her least favorite
plot of the garden.
Limited color
of light leaves lay to
the left creating
some leathernecking.
Let them alone and
they will grow lavish.

Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Start writing!

Don’t think about it too much; just do it.

*Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 750 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole dang poem. Scroll down and click on the comments!

Hello Earth! It’s Me _______________ the Tree

Since 1970, when Earth Day, a bigger, more expansive world-wide environmental “Movement” came into creation (take that J. Sterling Morton), Arbor Day has lost its popularity—but trees haven’t.

In the spirit of inclusivity, with a nod to Arbor Day on Earth Day, here we go:

For this prompt, you’ll need a clean sheet of paper (kind of ironic, isn’t it) and something to write with (a No.2 pencil perhaps).

We’re going to create a Shape Poem about a tree. But not just any tree, the tree you’d like to be.

FYI: “A Shape Poem is a type of poetry that describes an object and is shaped the same as the object the poem is describing.”

#1: Imagine Yourself as a Tree.

#2: Ask yourself what kind of tree are you? What do you look like? What’s your name?

#3: Draw a picture of YOU _____________ the Tree. As this is only a 7-minute prompt, make it a quick sketch (you can always embellish later).

Above your tree sketch, add the title:
Hello Earth! It’s Me ___your name here_____ the Tree.

Now, with You the Tree in mind, doodle words, phrases, questions, all around your tree’s roots, trunk, branches . . . add leaves, vines creatures.

And if you feel inspired, use those words to pencil a poem about You the Tree.

Or, heck, run outside and
Hug A Tree!
Climb A Tree!
Hang your poem from a tree!

Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Start writing!

Don’t think about it too much; just do it.

*Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 750 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole dang poem. Scroll down and click on the comments!

Loop Poem

Round and round and round we go!

In a loop poem, the last word of a line becomes the first word of the next line and so on until the last word of the poem which should be the first word of the poem.

Here’s an example I made up:

Read a book,
book a plane,
plane a board,
board a train,
train a dog,
dog-ear a page,
page my doctor,
doctor the soup,
soup up the horse,
horse around time,
time for a walk,
walk home and read.

Now you try it. Can you write a loop poem of at least seven lines?

Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Start writing!

Don’t think about it too much; just do it.

 

*Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 750 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole dang poem. Scroll down and click on the comments!

Name-Name Bo-Bame Game

Start with your name, ala The Name Game.

Repeat your name twice, stick a “bo” in the mix, finish by changing the first letter of your name with a B. Like this:

Kelly-kelly bo belly

Now, using that as the beginning, write a rhyming poem by changing the endings of other words so they rhyme, too. (If you’re stuck start by making a list of words that end with the same sound your name does: belly, swellie, jelly, ellie, smelly, umbrellie . . . ) Feel free to make up words, too. After all, this is your poem!

Sound hard? Maybe . . .

Sound fun? YES-YES BO-BES!

Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Start writing!

Don’t think about it too much; just do it.

 

*Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 700 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole dang poem. Scroll down and click on the comments!