Getting Silly: Nonsense Poems in a Serious World

| Danna Smith
photo, with thanks, by Jane Aldon at Unsplash

We are nearing the end of an incredibly trying year. A small dose of silly is just what the doctor ordered in times like these. So, I challenged myself to come up with a nonsense poem to make you (and your kids) smile. I was having so much fun, I wrote three!

Now it’s your turn

Set your worries aside for a while and get a little silly. I challenge you to write a nonsense poem and share it (or a comment) in the reply box below (scroll way down).

If you are feeling “iffy” about sharing, here’s a pep talk. For those of you who would like to comment or share anonymously, I’ve created settings to allow you to do so. Just reply without signing into your WordPress account.

As always, thank you for popping in! 🙂

Writing a Mask Poem

| Danna Smith

A mask poem (also called a Persona) is written from the point of view of an object, an animal, or a person (other than yourself). Mask poems can be long or short, serious or humorous. There are no rules as far as meter or rhyme pattern goes but its important to select an interesting subject and use your imagination to reveal the feelings of the object. Is the object lonely, joyful, afraid? Why?

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Visual Prompt: A Reader’s Prayer

| Danna Smith

We’ve all been there, pen in hand, waiting for a poem to arrive. Poetry prompts are a great way to get the juices flowing on those inevitable days with a poem doesn’t show up.

Photo, with thanks, by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

The visual prompt above spoke to me. There is nothing more relaxing than taking some “me time” and climbing into bed with a good book (or ten). Here’s the poem that this picture prompted me to write:

Now it’s your turn

Look at the visual prompt of the woman with books. Does it spark any ideas? Write a poem in any form (free verse, rhyme, acrostic, etc.). Feel free to leave your prompted poem in the comments below (scroll way down).

If you are “iffy” about sharing, here’s a pep talk and for those of you who would like to share anonymously, I’ve created settings to allow you to do so. Just reply without signing into your WordPress account.

As always, thank you for popping in!

What’s the Skinny? Writing Skinny Poems

| Danna Smith

If you haven’t written a Skinny poem before, you are in for a real treat! This poetic form was created by Truth Thomas in the Tony Medina Poetry Workshop at Howard University in 2005.

A Skinny has 11 lines. Lines 1 and 11 can be any length but are the exact same words (though you can rearrange the order if you’d like). Lines 2, 6, and 10 are identical. All lines except 1 and 11 are ONE WORD ONLY. The poems can remain alone or they can be linked together to create a longer poem. Skinnys can be about any subject but generally reflect serious concerns facing humankind.

Example: 

This is one of my Skinnys from a project I’m currently working on. 

Now it’s your turn

Once you start writing Skinnys, you’ll be hooked! I’d love for you to share your poems in the comments below. If you are “iffy” about sharing your work, here’s a pep talk! 🙂 And, as always, thank you for popping in!

Visual Poetry Prompt: A Big Fan

| Danna Smith

We’ve all been there, sitting with pen in hand, waiting for a poem to arrive. Poetry prompts are a great way to get the juices flowing on those inevitable days when a poem doesn’t show up.

Photo, with thanks, by Radu Florin on Unsplash

When I looked at this picture, the fan stood out to me above all else. It’s such a big fan for a little desk and I found myself wondering how it might feel about it’s place in the world. That thought prompted my decision to write my poem from the fan’s point of view (personification). What would the fan say if it could talk? Here’s what I ended up with:

Now it’s your turn

Look at the picture. Does it spark any ideas? Write a poem in any form (free verse, rhyme, acrostic, etc.). Feel free to leave your prompted poem in the comments below (scroll way down). Poetry is better when shared. 🙂

More prompts

If you’d like more prompts, please check out the “prompts” tab above for a variety of visual and written prompts to kick start your writing.

And as always, thanks for popping in!

Poetry Pop Shop: Haikcubes

| Danna Smith

On Poetry Pop, you will periodically get posts titled, Poetry Pop Shop, where I introduce some fun writerly or readerly gadgets I think you might enjoy.

In my last post, we had fun writing haikus so I thought it would be fitting to introduce you to Haikubes this week. With this fun interactive game, you can write your own expressive haiku with a roll of the dice!

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Haiku: Capturing a Moment in Nature

| Danna Smith

A haiku (hi-koo) is a short Japanese poem that focuses on one moment in nature. It’s a poem that’s written to be read in one breath.

The American (or modern) haiku is based on the old Japanese form, but it usually has three lines and a 5/7/5 syllable count. Meaning lines one and three have five syllables and line two has seven syllables. The Japanese form focuses on seasons but with the American Haiku we tend to broaden this to all things nature..

Here is an American haiku using the 5/7/5 syllable count:

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How to Write a Digital Blackout Poem (with images)

| Danna Smith

In blackout poetry, the poet blacks out or covers up unwanted words, leaving carefully chosen words to “pop” on the page. There are two ways to create blackout poetry. You can do it the old school way with a newspaper article and a marker which is great fun, but here, I’m going to focus on how to write a blackout poem digital style!

I created the poem below in the program Google Slides, use the arrow keys to see the text before from an article from a yoga magazine (although I encountered formatting issues upon posting so it’s not an exact match) and the blackout poem after. Step-by-step instructions on this fun digital technique are shown below.  

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Writing a Found Poem (no, it’s not cheating!)

| Danna Smith

Found poetry is the literary version of a collage. The poems are made up of words taken from a printed document such as a newspaper article, a speech, a menu, junk mail, or even another poem. The poet selects words from the document and rearranges them to create a poem.

Found poetry feels a little like cheating because you have a group of pre-selected words to choose from but it isn’t. In fact, writing a poem in this way may be more difficult because of the limitations placed on the poet. In any case, it’s a fun challenge and since you are restricted by the words you can use, your poem will most likely end up being very different from the poems you usually write. Found poems will get you out of the box!

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