It's day 16 on the Slice of Life Challenge for March at Two Writing Teachers. We are over half-way now!
I should by rights have the poem I did on March 3 do double duty. That day the word was Stretch, and I used it and "inch". But I won't. I'm going to write a new poem while I wait. "Wait for what?" you ask. Wait for voting to be happening. My poem is up against Renee LaTulippe's peom today over at March Madness Poetry 2015 on Think Kid Think!
I wrote 4 poems using the word "trampled" - a really difficult acrostic and a few others that I wasn't really pleased with. Then the one I submitted came to me. It came in two parts. I had just about decided to submit the acrostic (which I was pretty sure wouldn't fit in the space provided), when I looked back over my notes and found a half cooked poem. I was sitting in Starbucks at the time, and started to work on it again, shuffling it around in my brain and on the screen. It finally fell into place, and the resulting poem was the one I finally gave my approval to.
So I submitted my poem, and now it is up on ThinkKidThink.com to be read, and voted on or not... I'd really love to have you pop on over there and read poems and vote on a bunch. It's a fun activity. Voting closes on Tuesday am.
I'm exhausted, posting this just after midnight today...maybe I'll come back and write more when my brain isn't so fried!
I came back this morning (later...when I was awaker) and had this to say:
Spring Inches
Little by little
Spring inches in;
Snow has to lose
Sun has to win.
The clock hops forward,
Shadows inch back;
The spring sun warms,
Ice starts to crack.
Liquid and solids
Mingle and flow;
Puddles appear
With nowhere to go,
Until I carve
Inches of grooves
And water begins
To trickle and moves
Where I've created
Rivers with stick,
and they have no choice
which route to pick;
For I am the master
of rivers and moats
and all of the little
stick and leaf boats.
©Donna JT Smith, 2015
My mother would have liked this one. To you mom, you were the master of rivers with stick and leaf boats.
This was last night....or this morning just before 1 am...
Inch
I gave them an inch
they took a mile
my eyes were closing all the while
I gave them a mile
they wanted three
my brain was dozing happily
I gave them three
they wanted more
and I began to softly snore
the more they got
the more they plead
Oh, dogs, I need to get to bed.
This walking in my sleep to do
the things for you you want me to
Has got to stop so I can rest
And tomorrow I can be my best
so go to sleep like I am, see?
and be the best that you can be.
Donna JT Smith, 2015
And with that parting poem, I'm off to bed, hoping for a "lying down sleep" with no puppy waking me up. And no cat either. I'll check the voting in the morning. I can't make it go faster by sitting up with my eyes closed.
This walking in my sleep to do
ReplyDeletethe things for you you want me to
Has got to stop ...
I'm about to drop from the exhaustion
of not being me,
so listen, why don't we just write lines
of poems, not wrestle with reality,
and dream the sleep of dream?
--Kevin, lifting a few lines from your poem to get me writing my poem this morning. Thanks!
Hey, glad to be of assistance! Have a great day!
DeleteJust went and voted. Good Luck! It is fun making rivers and streams for the standing water to follow. I admit I still sometimes do this, but I use my foot rather than a twig.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got to vote! It's a fun tournament with a great lot of poems to read to classes.
DeleteSuch fun to read these very different poems, but hear your humor and your voice in the cadence of both.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed writing both of these - they came out pretty much as is. I may have to change up the cadence and write a serious-er one soon!
DeleteI'm amazed that there are humans who can create so much poetry in one tiny slice. This would have taken me days. They are so fun to read.
ReplyDeleteI think it may be an illness! Haa! But I'm happy you like them!
Delete