Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.)
Life is busy here. Our daughter Maddie got married last week (out of state, and they got back last night). This next week, we’ll have a tiny celebration here in Minnesota, and another bigger one in Oregon (where the groom’s from) at the end of March. Whew! I’ll share photos soon. But meanwhile, yay!
Also, I’ve updated my How Much Money Does a Writer Make? page with my 2024 numbers.
Now…poetry! Our Poetry Princess challenge this month was a Wordplay poem, specifically the form Nikki Grimes described here (scroll down): “When I talk about wordplay, I’m talking about studying a word from top to bottom, and inside out, considering every aspect of the word: What it looks like, sounds like, feels like. What it does, how it’s used, etc. The idea is to bring all of your senses into the act.” I like to incorporate what the word ITSELF looks like and work that into the poem or even use it as the framework for the whole poem. Not sure that’s what Nikki intends, but I have a blast with them!
Then I challenged myself to work a couple of them into my poem. I avoided “My soul”–too obvious with eyes! But I couldn’t resist “bullseye.” Also, when I formatted my draft, I italicized the letters and words that were meant to really use wordplay, including a few hidden ones. Here’s my draft:
We didn’t Zoom this month–everyone was scattered. So I can’t wait to discover what they–and you?!–did with this prompt! I’m off on an author visit today, but I’ll be making the rounds this weekend.
Liz
Sara
Kelly
Tanita
Tricia
Mary Lee
Click here to see all our previous Poetry Princesses collaborations.
Our Poetry Friday host is the thoughtful Denise Krebs. Be sure to check out the Roundup!
8 Responses
Eye is all mememe–I laughed out loud and then realized just how clever this is.
You are a master of this form. Love it!
Irises!:) Love. Congratulations to the bride & groom! xo
I vote AYE for so much delightful fun! This just skips along, exploring all the ways eyes work (or don’t, although I’ve often wished my eyes could record like a camera) and I love that last poignant verse, which pairs so well with the bullseye one earlier.
Congratulations to Maddie & her husband! Those celebrations are so full of joy! I like your “eye” creation, Laura, imagining many times the “bullseye” lands “across the yawn of space” — special moments!
Wonderful word play, Laura, especially how you used iris that is part of the eye but also a flower. So clever! And I love the phrase “across a yawn of space.” Congratulations to Maddie! Enjoy the celebrations.
So clever and inventive. Love the “mememe” part and “my eyes say yes when they meet yours.” Congrats to Maddie and her husband!!
I say aye to Eyes, too! Seeing and acknowledging are wonderful themes. The “mememe” part is great, too.
I love that you added a ‘y’ which asks a poignant question of the memememe — bridging the distance between I and you…