Day 21: Day of the Pumpkins

Happy National Poetry Month 2023! Curious about what I’m doing? Want to play along? Read more here.

[Heads-up: If you’re visiting regularly, please know that the bold, blue text is what I’m writing fresh each day. The black text is the same each day:>) ]

My sister Patty left yesterday, headed back home to Florida. I love living in Minnesota, but I sure miss my sisters…

In yesterday’s pile of tiles, the words “smooth” and “head” caught my eye right away. They seemed the perfect description of a pumpkin. From there, my poem seemed to grow in a Dia de los Muertos fashion. Maybe pumpkin skulls instead of the traditional calaveras? I actually resisted going down that path, but these related words just kept jumping out at me, demanding to be used!

Books that came to mind were Heidi Mordhorst’s Pumpkin Butterfly, Pat Zietlow Miller’s Sophie’s Squash, and Melanie Heuiser Hill’s Great Pumpkin Suite (a middle-grade connection today!).

What words will we be digging through today?

And here’s the card that we might pull our topic from:

So some possible topics are:

  1. jack
  2. toys
  3. genie
  4. hook
  5. robin

Will you join in? Would love to see what you come up with!

 

7 Responses

  1. Laura, I love your haunting pumpkin poem. The titles today are not speaking to me! Here’s my try:

    Cinderella-ed
    Smile strength
    I sweat
    You can dance

    1. Thank you, Denise, for playing along even when the tiles are NOT speaking to you! I think that’s where the brain/creativity growth starts to happen (at least that’s how I feel for me…).

  2. Laura, that pumpkin head might be a little scary! Denise, is that a modern Cinderella? Fun poems!

    I made a step-sister poem… I wanted to have the words “not evil” to start… I have a wonderful step-sister who is generous and giving, always doing things for others.

    Step-Sister

    Cool goddess
    Precious
    Loving
    Smiles at me
    Strength
    We can do it

    1. This is so full of affection, Diane. We added 2 step-grandchildren to our family last year, and I never know how to refer to them. We only met them a couple of times before the wedding, and I don’t want to be presumptuous and call them grandkids. But step-grandkids sounds…distant. Amazing the connotation and cultural weight that “step” has, isn’t it?

    2. Diane, such a sweet poem about a dear “step” sister who is so much more than the title that has such “connotation and cultural weight” that Laura describes.

  3. Smell as death makes me think of rotting pumpkins. Kind of deep and dark digging today. This project is intriguing.

    1. I know. It’s a bit disconcerting what I’m pulling out of the tiles! :>O

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