Okay, so Halloween is over but who can resist a challenge from Michelle Barnes! She invited interested writers to create a monster-inspired haiku from the point of view of a favorite Halloween monster. This creepy task was inspired by Bob Raczka who wrote a delightful holiday children's book Santa Clauses, in poetic form.
When Dark Shadows was on television, I was fascinated by Barnabas Collins' dark character. Before that time period, there was Bella Lugosi starring as the suave but terrifying Count Dracula, so my monster of choice, lurking in the corners of my mind, is a vampire.
I have been thinking about this monster haiku for weeks now but my monster just didn't want to speak to me. He was lurking like we sometimes do on Twitter conversations, just waiting for the right moment to appear.
Below are the Rules of the Writing Road provided by Michelle Barnes for our monster-inspired haiku:
When Dark Shadows was on television, I was fascinated by Barnabas Collins' dark character. Before that time period, there was Bella Lugosi starring as the suave but terrifying Count Dracula, so my monster of choice, lurking in the corners of my mind, is a vampire.
I have been thinking about this monster haiku for weeks now but my monster just didn't want to speak to me. He was lurking like we sometimes do on Twitter conversations, just waiting for the right moment to appear.
Below are the Rules of the Writing Road provided by Michelle Barnes for our monster-inspired haiku:
- A haiku has 3 lines, with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second, and 5 syllables in the third.
- A haiku is always written in the present tense.
- Try to include a funny twist or comparison.
Listening to the voice in my head from one of the minions of Count Dracula's vampire network, I created a haiku to be read aloud on one dark and dreary night or perhaps during one of the days leading up to Halloween. While writing I reminisced about the Harvest House I hosted each year as a schoolwide read aloud experience. If I had a group of students to read with now, I would feature this poem in a Harvest House-like experience, complete with a sensory walk through of realistic and virtual fall scenes. Following this I would ask the children to create their own monster-inspired haiku with an accompanying sketch or digital image. The image below was created with a free photo on Pixtabay that was enhanced and via PicMonkey with a superimposed haiku.
For those interested in writing their own monster-inspired haiku you can send your delight to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com. All contributions will be collected and published on Friday, November 28, 2014 - the day after Thanksgiving at Michelle's blog site.
Find your inner monster and let his/her voice fly for this challenge.
I hope you enjoy my offering. Comments are appreciated.
Now fly like a bat in the night over to Becky Shillington's blog for Poetry Friday delights.
There you will find a delightful poem created by Becky for the Poetry Friday round-up
and link-ups to other offerings by a group of writers from around the states.
(By the way, today I was in the audience when Margaret Simon was honored at the Elementary Gathering at #NCTE14. Prior to this event, I was delighted to meet Margaret while sitting in a kick-off panel discussion hosted by Kylene Beers. Not only was this a memory moment but at the Elementary Gathering I was in the company of three of the six members of the Two Writing Teachers' team, members of Poetry Friday, REFLECT WITH ME Gallery writers, and other bloggers that I only knew virtually. What a great day!)
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