Poetry Cubed

Poet/author friend Matt Forrest created a new writing challenge that he featured at Poetry Friday. It is called "Poetry Cubed" and includes the following requirements:

-Use the 3 images provided as inspiration to write a poem - any form, any genre, any number of lines, rhyming or not. Remember, it doesn't have to be very good - the mantra around here is to #WriteLikeNoOneIsReading! This is all about having fun and spurring creativity.
-The only hitch is that you need to include a reference to all three images in the poem - either via concrete imagery or something more abstract.

Steps in My Process: When I read the requirements, I was intrigued and wondered where my mind would lead me. Of course, the first instinct was to see Matt photo prompts in a digital collage format. That recreation was enough to start my word weaving process. Thinking back on my childhood and teenage days, I created a poem titled, Reminiscing.

Invitation: Since these words are first thoughts, I decided to go along with Matt's hashtag, #WriteLikeNoOneIsReading!, but you are reading so you can comment.

Final Reflection:
I really like the way the digital composition fell into place. It might be more of a striking visual if I left the words off and place them below the image. Once you see the two images, you can decide if you have a preference. 

Reminiscing...
Silver screen moments,
Decades past,
Bloomed bright
Against dark skies.
Eyes riveted on
Drive-in delights-
Children's popcorn,
Teen's first kiss.

©CVarsalona, 2017
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This image poem is part of my #poetrylisciouspoetry collection for National Poetry Month 2017.

I am not sure if DigiLit Sunday created by Margaret Simon is meeting this Sunday, but I wanted to let the writing community know of Matt Forrest's challenge. It is a fun activity for #digipoetry writers. 

DigiLit Sunday

Digital Journal

The odyssey of my writing life started with my first journal in elementary school that chronicled the adventures of a two children called the Merry Twins. Their antics were patterned after my favorite series, The Bobbsey Twins. Reflecting on life as a child, I am amused by two facts. At a young age, I was using a mentor text to inform my writing practice and my characters' names took on a positive persona decades before the term positivity became popular. Because I still have not organized all of my professional, pleasure, and picture books, along with other mounds of paper from my pre-retirement days as districtwide literacy director, I have not found my first journal that marked my attempt at authorship. 

Today, if you enter my home office you will find paper scraps of edited poems strewn around my desk, marking the traces of my thinking. No matter how many times I try to organize the space around my computer, I still linger in what I call cluttered chaos. But somehow within the disarray I am able to thrive.

Since I am fascinated with Cloud storage lately and time is a factor when blogging I have turned to a digital journal. I remind myself that it is fine to move from the printed page to the digital space to capture my thoughts. The process is messy and often leads me to throw out my scraps of paper after my thoughts are saved in the cloud. 

DIGITAL NOTEBOOK

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is collecting notebook ideas at The Poem Farm today. When she tweeted me about the idea, I thought of my messy writing process and tried to imagine how I would replicate what I do digitally to bring a poem from its initial seed of an idea to fruition. What you will see below is an example of how I took the lyrics to a song about positivity, crossed out certain words, and then reshaped the lyrics into a poem. Going paperless may be a way to save the earth but it is also a way for me to organize my writing portfolio.

You can see the remainder of the lyrics here.

 Blackout poem created from a song's lyrics

Final Version

Please visit Poetry Friday that is being hosted by Matt Forrest today at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme. Matt has very good news to share with everyone and a poem that provides insight into what springtime looks like in New Hampshire. 

Additional Information regarding digital literacy:

An invitation to share one digital poem/photo combination for the newest online gallery that I am creating, Spring's Symphony, can be accessed here. I hope that Poetry Friday colleagues will be creative in their visual representations of springtime.  

Also, please peruse the Hall of #EduHeroVoices filled with digital images of #edusinspirations. If interested, create one and send it to me for the new site. 

What If? Poetry Friday

What If? is my second attempt at writing a zeno poem that was inspired by the November 3, 2014 #NYEDChat conversation set in motion by moderator Daniel McCabe. As the #NYEDCHat co-moderator for the night, I wanted to respond to the topic, The Homework Deception, in a creative way. Hence, I wrote, revised, rewrote, and then decided on the graphic to pull the format together. Before the poem was made public, I called on a connected educator to critique the format. Who better to ask advice from than Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, who collected and showcased zenos during the month of October? Michelle responded quickly, in between her daughter's dance class and son's karate, and gave me the thumbs up to "go for it." I also asked Matt Forrest who has written many original zenos to look over the What if? zeno poem. Matt also responded favorably so I let the zeno fly during the chat. 

If you would like to view the flow of conversation on "The Homework Deception," you can access the transcript here. The chat was fast-paced and engaging; participants tweeted responses to thought-provoking questions posed by Dan McCabe. Much to the moderators' delight, the #NYEDChat convo was reported to be trending on Twitter. There is power in being connected. 

Flyer created by Tim Needles

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Now please stroll over to Random Noodling for the Poetry Friday Round-Up. Today's host is Diane Mayr who has a magnificent picture and posting of the November skies.  

REMINDER: I am gathering original poem and photo combinations that depict the theme "finding fall" for the Finding Fall Gallery. Information can be found here. I am excited to showcase the work that has been coming.