Found Poem: Where the Wild Things Are

Found poetry is the literary version of a collage. The poems are made up of words taken from a printed document like a newspaper article, a speech, or in this case, a book, Where the Wild Things Are. The poet selects words from the document and rearranges them to create a unique poem.

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Paint Chip Poetry: 9-11

A few weeks back, I posted a Paint Chip Poetry exercise. It was so much fun, I thought I’d give it another try this week. The rules for Paint Chip Poetry are simple:

  • Choose a random selection of color swatches from your local hardware store or online.
  • Give yourself a time limit of ten or fifteen minutes.
  • Write a free verse poem using as many of the paint colors as possible in the time allotted.
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Zen Pop: Poetic Encouragement (Just Be)

Life is hard. Today, if all you do is be, then that’s okay.

Periodically on Poetry Pop, you will see a Zen Pop blog post. These posts are my way of sharing on a personal level and giving you a bit of poetic encouragement while traversing this beautiful (and often challenging) thing we call life.

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Free Verse: The Birth of a Poem

There seems to be an influx of newborn babies right now, at least in my little corner of the world. I’ve enjoyed seeing the sweet little bundles of joy and their happy parents and grandparents on social media. So, I had the idea to write a poem about babies for this week’s post. Oh, the pressure of a poem! After many attempts, my focus shifted to the process of getting my thoughts down on paper. Giving birth to words is not nearly as exciting to celebrate, but the labor pains are real!

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Poetry Pop Shop: The Crafty Poet

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. Today, I want to share one of my favorite books on the craft with you. The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop by Diane Lockward is my go-to book when I need a little inspiration or poetry exercise.

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A Birthday Acrostic Poem

I had a birthday this week. I’m at that point where I’m far from young, but I’m not quite old (unless you ask my kids 🙂 ) And although I curse the wrinkles, aches, and pains, I am trying to embrace aging as I know it’s a privilege denied to many. So today, in honor of my birthday, I’ve written an acrostic poem.

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The Shortest Poem in History

When I came across Strickland Gillilan’s 1927 poem, “Lines on the Antiquity of Microbes,” I had a good laugh. Not only because it’s a concise, funny poem but because the long, complicated title is comically in contrast. Apparently, someone else thought the same thing (as far as I can tell, nobody has fessed up yet) and later shortened the title to “fleas.” So here it is, the shortest poem in history:

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