Hurray! Hurray! It’s a Summer Short & Sweet day! 🙂
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First off, help yourself to some of these delicious cookies
and a glass of refreshing iced tea
because we can be more creative after a little snack 🙂
Now then, are you ready for today’s Short & Sweet?
I totally wrestled with this one and I hope it’s going to be fun and also work right… I guess we’ll see 🙂
So we have to go on the honor system again – no peeking! 🙂 – and I need you to get a piece of paper and a writing implement of your choice. Then write down the following things in a list bearing in mind that everything below is supposed to be related so it can hang together:
1. A noun (you know, a good old person place or thing)
2. A color that describes that noun or some part of that noun you’d like to highlight (e.g. red, or, lavender, or, cerulean)
3. A comparison to that color (in the manner of simile or metaphor e.g. summer sunset, or, shadowed snow on a January evening)
4. Something that belongs to your noun written as adjective, adjective noun (e.g. wide, feathered tail, or, slim, brown limbs, or brass ratcheted gears)
5. A verb ending in -ing that is something your noun could do (e.g. soaring, or, stretching, or, grappling)
6. Another verb ending in -ing that is something else your noun could do (e.g. sailing, or, reaching, or, frowning)
7. A place written as: preposition [a/an/the] adjective adjective noun (e.g. over [a] broad green valley, or, across [the] shimmering shining stream)
8. A description of something your noun could do in relation to something else, written as: verb ending in -ing preposition adjective noun (e.g. scouting for silver salmon, or, basking on sun-baked sand, or, digging up acorn jewels) – (yes, I realize “for” is a conjunction, not a preposition, but you can use it if you want. The reason I didn’t put conjunction is because the others – and, or, nor, but, yet – won’t work. But use “for” if you want :))
9. Repeat #8 with another description (e.g. plunging toward immovable earth)
10. Repeat #8 with a final description (e.g. hoping for sweet success, or, diving for delicious dinner)
11. A simile for the action in #10 (e.g. like a rocket ship, or, like a bow drawn across singing strings)
12. Your original noun from #1.
Okay! Got your list? What we are accomplishing here is part Madlib, part poetry, and will hopefully result in lots of descriptive poems (haha – like how I tricked you into writing a poem? :)) that will also serve as story sparkers by giving all the devoted readers specific, detailed, poetic descriptions of characters, settings, or objects that they could use in a story! For those of you who write picture books, there are a lot of similarities between picture books and poetry, so this is good practice 🙂
Wasn’t that totally awesome how I snuck that up on you?
So now, all you have to do is type your poem into the comments using this template and your list:
I am [a/an/the] noun from #1
Color from #2 as [a/an/the] comparison from #3
With [a/an/the] adjective adjective noun from #4
Verb from #5, verb from #6
Prepostition [a/an/the] adjective adjective noun from #7
Description from #8
Description from #9
Description from #10
Like [a/an/the] simile from #11
I am [a/an/the] noun from #1
Here’s my example:
I am a falcon
Gray as a stormy sky
With powerful, peregrine wings
Soaring, sailing
Across the shimmering, shining stream
Scouting for silver salmon
Plummeting toward wavering water
Diving for delicious dinner
Like an arrow sprung from a huntsman’s bow
I am a falcon.
Here’s another one because I think this is fun 🙂
I am a birch
Silver as starlight on snow
With strong, slim limbs
Reaching, stretching
For the faraway, fickle moon
Gazing at kaleidoscope constellations
Soaking in the dewdrop dawn
Standing among my slender sisters
Like a dancer waiting for the music to begin
I am a birch.
And one more:
I am Sarah
Gold and brown like honey on toast
With hidden, heartfelt hopes
Uncurling, unfurling
From their secret silent space
Running with quiet concentration
Leaving behind even the fastest few
Flying on winged feet to finish first
Like fleet Atalanta
I am Sarah.
Ok, I’ll stop now because I’m really not very good at this even though I think it’s tons of fun 🙂
So do you get the idea? You may of course tweak a bit. If you need a different verb form or fewer adjectives or an extra word or one less line or two colors, etc. feel free to change it up. The word prompts and template were just to make the job easier and less intimidating 🙂
I hope you’ll all have fun with this! I can’t wait to see what you write! And after my humble examples, I hope everyone will feel very brave about putting theirs up – I know without a doubt you can all do better than I did! 🙂
Have a great weekend, and please join me Monday to welcome Tiffany Haber as she talks about her debut picture book, The Monster Who Lost His Mean (which I just had the pleasure of reading and it is REALLY TERRIFIC and you should all get a copy for the littles in your life, or for yourself as an example of a well-done picture book in verse!!!)
Happy weekend 🙂
Susanna Leonard Hill 
I am an inuit
as blue as an arctic glacier
a timid, tiny boy
fumbling, hiding
under the upturned boat
fishing for seal
slipping into the icy hole
clambering to safety
like a haunted polar bear
I am an inuit
This was very different… you are full of great ideas, Susanna!
Another keeper, Susanna – copied and pasted! I think yours are great, especially the falcon poem — though I do really like the dancer line in the birch poem, too. All good stuff! Here's my five-minute masterpiece. 🙂
I am the dragonfly
cerulean as sky
with delicate mesh wings
dizzying, flittering
amid sunbathing water lilies
dipping into rich nectar
resting on wispy breeze
dancing on golden sunbeams
like a flicker of fire
I am the dragonfly
I am the paint
as grey as fog
with wet and wondrous sheen
gliding, smoothing
the age speckled, time beaten wall,
washing away the ages,
hiding imperfections,
brightening the room
like a shaft of energizing sunlight.
I am the paint.
Susanna, I'm LOVING your Summer Short & Sweets! It's worth stopping my work on Lunadar to switch things up…;~)
Here is my entry:
I am a witch
red as the setting sun
with flowing black cape
frowning, cackling
preparing for a party
baking spider shaped cookies
hoping everything turs out right
like a picture perfect story
I am a witch
Dog gone it! That's what I get for going too fast! I meant to write “hoping everything TURNS out right”…lol…
This is great, Joanna! A wonderful character sketch that fills me with ideas for stories! Thanks so much for joining in – I'm glad you liked the idea 🙂
Gorgeous, Renee! So beautiful! After I read Joanna's I wanted to write a story about a little Inuit boy, but now I want to write a story about a dragonfly 🙂 Thanks for joining in the fun!
WOW! Cool! So creative. I love how different these all are so far – everyone is so talented! Thanks for joining in, Delores! 🙂
Ooh, another great character that could star in a story! Love this! So glad you're enjoying the series, Donna! And an exercise like this is helpful to all writing, I think, in that it encourages you to focus on the specific details and describe them as succinctly but also engagingly as possible!
That's OK – I knew what you meant 🙂
Donna L Martin (unregistered) wrote, in response to Donna L Martin:
Dog gone it! That's what I get for going too fast! I meant to write “hoping everything TURNS out right”…lol…
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Very nice, Joanna! Love the haunted polar bear…
Mine aren't as fancy, but here goes:
I am a pig
pink as a rose
with a slinky, curly tail
wallowing, basking
in a cool, muddy pigpen
eating colossal trash
grunting a huge thank you
napping with my friends
like a newborn piglet
I am a pig.
I am a writer
tan like a horse
With exciting, lively characters
brainstorming, creating
at a large kitchen table
writing picture book stories
revising picture book stories
editing picture book stories
like an author gone mad
I am a writer.
I scrolled down quickly…and I promise I didn't peek…late for work but just wanted you to know I will be back later tonight to read through and participate. 🙂 🙂
These are great, Tina! I hope you found them fun and not too hard, and that they helped get the creativity flowing this morning (or middle of the night – whatever time it is on your side of the world :))
Oh, goody! Can't wait! 🙂
I wrote up a blogpost and did two, but then got inspired by my breakfast to write another! Here they are from the post:
Friend
I am a friend
green as the first leaves of spring
With loving, all encompassing hugs
listening, caring,
behind the mundane, everyday existence.
High-fiving over every single success,
laughing on multiple occasions,
loving with enthusiastic warmth.
Like a lighthouse shining through the fog of life,
I am a friend.
Artist
I am an artist.
Multi-colored as an old paint palette.
With fluid, imaginative ideas
creating, scribbling,
through the flashing nonsensical mind.
drawing out inconspicuous inklings,
experimenting with endless possibilities
creating for the entire world and myself,
like a quick stroke of the paintbrush,
I am an artist.
ok, and then I was SOOO in love with my croissant as I ate it that I decided to do a poem about that too! And share it with my roommate. She agreed that she feels the exact same way about croissants.
Croissant
I am a croissant.
Golden brown as the fist tan of summer
with a sweet, flaky crust.
baking, enticing,
beyond the mundane breakfast fare.
sitting in powdered sugar,
dreaming of noisy Paris,
inspiring up better days,
like a delicious encouragement sent from God himself,
I am a croissant.
Thanks for the fun!!!
When the post starts with food photos, I have food on the brain! Should have chosen a more active noun but stuck with the one that popped into my brain first!
I am strawberry
Red as a fire engine
With shiny, juicy skin
Sweetening, ripening
In the field
Waiting for the mouth
Warming in the sun
Holding in the promise
Like the New Year's Ball in Times Square
I am a strawberry
Ooh, I love it! So summery and strawberry-y 🙂 Now I want to write a story with strawberries 🙂
These are wonderful, Kathy! Thanks so much for joining in the fun, and I will have to see if i can find your post! 🙂 You and Cathy (funny that your names are so similar) are apparently on the same wavelength with breakfast-inspired poetry – put her strawberries with your croissant and you have perfection 🙂
Here goes:
I am a pug.
Tan as the sand.
With a cute, black face.
Drooling, licking, running,
Into the big house.
Chewing a pink and blue toy
To get to the nice treat in the middle
While walking through the house,
Wishing for the treat
Like a mad man.
I am a pug.
Wheww! Now I need a cookie! 😉
Luckily there's a whole plateful – help yourself 🙂 Loved your poem – do you have a pug? Thanks for joining in the fun! 🙂
I am a jug
Amber as iced tea
With a cold, round belly
Contain, pour,
Into a tall clear glass
Filling to the brim
Refreshing parched throats
Spilling on a round belly
Like rain gushing down the gutter
I am a jug
Fun, fun, fun! And guess what I was doing as I started this? I was on hold w/American Airlines – but they were helping me identify an email as spam, or as he called it 'a fishing email'.
Thanks again Susanna!
Oh my…yours are just lovely. Really. So much so, I almost didn't try, but here goes:
I am a sunflower.
Yellow and gold as the wheat nearby.
With soft, velvet petals,
Swaying and smiling
in a cool morning breeze.
Leaning into dawn,
Breathing in the softness of the day.
Waiting, waiting with hope
for my heart, the sun.
I am a sunflower.
Fantastic! Such fun! Now I'm thirsty 🙂 Thanks for joining in!
OMG! Sharon this is beautiful! WAY better than mine – you shouldn't have worried at all! Thanks so much for joining in!!! I would have hated to miss this one 🙂
I am a banana slug
Yellow as a sunflower
With long muscular body
Crawling, stretching
Under a dark damp stump
Feeding on delectable mushrooms
Slithering on moist leaves
Climbing over knotted roots
Leaving a silver trail
Like an artist's paintbrush
I am a banana slug.
Yes, you tricked me. How dare you make me a poet! LOL! Who knew? It reminds me of a time I used an airplane-shaped spoon try to make my toddler eat his food: “Swoosh….hear comes the airplane…open wide…” (then airplane drops bombs of peas into mouth)
I am a banana slug
Yellow as a sunflower
With long muscular body
Crawling, stretching
Under a dark damp stump
Feeding on delectable mushrooms
Slithering on moist leaves
Climbing over knotted roots
Leaving a silver trail
Like an artist's paintbrush
I am a banana slug.
Yes, you tricked me. How dare you make me a poet! LOL! Who knew? It reminds me of a time I used an airplane-shaped spoon try to make my toddler eat his food: “Swoosh….hear comes the airplane…open wide…” (then airplane drops bombs of peas into mouth)
Wow, Sharon. I love this!
Okay, now that I know it's a poem. I'm going to go practice with a more poetic subject than a slug :o)
I am just getting to Short and Sweets!!! I did have my words on a blue sticky note along with my grocery list. I read the post from my phone while waiting for a friend to eat lunch…so, of course, I started jotting my words as instructed!!! I love this idea. And I love your examples, Susanna! I'm just fulla love, arent' I? I really had to think about all the parts of speech 🙂 Are you going to make us diagram sentences next week????
I am an alien
Chartreuse as a lime on steroids
With bushy, blooming hair
Shuttling and blasting
Through sparkling, shimmering space
Ripping between roaring rockets
Pausing on pleasing planets
Searching for the yoda hairdresser
Like a diver delving through dusky darkness
I am an alien.
You know, Susanna, I love the way your comment feed works…it invites the new comment before you have to read through all the others. 🙂 It is 11pm and I still have hours of computer work…but Summer Short and Sweets comes first!
I am Castle.
Gray as weathered stone in a cloud-filled twilight.
With tall turreted towers.
Decaying.
Crumbling.
Adjacent to an ancient herb garden where quartz paving stones glisten in the moonlight.
Guarding a hidden secret.
Protecting a forgotten treasure.
Waiting for eventual discovery.
Like a tightrope walker holding his breath.
I am Castle.
Well, this was like nothing I have ever done before. What fun! Quite mind-blowing to say the least. 🙂
I'll be back to read the other entries later…or tomorrow, after work. Right now I have to go and write some tips on strengthening parent-child bonds by having a family slumber party…got a request from a journalist who is doing an article for a major parenting magazine…and she queried me!!!! Guys, I can't say enough about using HARO if you want to get free high quality publicity and exposure…but it does take time and patience. 🙂
Also, I hope everyone takes a look at Erik's amazing review of Show Me How! He even did some of the activities with his sister and took great photos!
Banana slug. AWESOME!
Very cool!
Slugs can be poetic too, Romelle 🙂 Have you read Slugs In Love? If you haven't, you must! They're so cute, and they write poetry to each other in the garden 🙂
So glad you like the arrangement, Vivian 🙂 LOVE your castle poem – so evocative that now I want to write a story with a castle… and an Inuit boy, and a dragonfly, and strawberries, etc…. 🙂 I have not looked into HARO as much as I should – I find it a little confusing, but maybe because I haven't examined it carefully enough. Congrats on the article – fantastic! – and I read and commented on Erik's post yesterday – it was terrific 🙂
UGH! No sentence diagramming! It brings back unpleasant memories of 6th grade 🙂 So glad you're full of love and enjoyed this little exercise! I love your alien poem. I love how different everyone's ideas are, and how the shape of the poem really makes you able to visualize the subject so you can imagine writing a story about it. I love that everyone is so enthusiastic and willing to join in the fun. I guess I'm fulla love too 🙂
You know, Romelle, a slug might not be the first thing you'd think of for poetry, but it's amazing how beautifully this poem came out about what could have been a difficult subject. Even though slugs are not my favorite critters, I love your poem. The mushrooms, moist leaves, knotted roots and silver trail – wonderful!!! Excellent job! Glad you enjoyed my sneakiness 🙂
I am going to give this a try:
I am a boy
Black t-shirt blending with the shadows on the fence
As I pass
Narrow fingers stretching to the sky
Jumping over cracks in the sidewalk so as not to “break my mother's back”
Beneath the setting sun
Racing home with a wish for mac n cheese
Sniffing in the kitchen as I enter
Discovering wishes can come true
A smile spreads wide and happy like an orange wedge
I am a boy
Fantastic, Angela! What a vivid picture you have drawn – I feel like I can totally see your boy hopscotching along to miss those cracks 🙂 I hope you had fun with it 🙂 Thanks so much for joining in!
Penny, I LOVE Chartreuse as a lime on steroids – hysterical!!
This is beautiful, Sharon!!
I'm reading this in my hot backyard – now I'm dying for a glass of iced tea!!
This really cute, Erik! We both wrote about dogs 🙂
Now I want a strawberry to go with my iced tea 🙂 (see Julie's post)
Wow, Kathy, you're an overachiever!!
Love yours, Tina – especially the second half of your writer poem 🙂 Too funny!
Nice one, Donna!
You make painting sound awesome!!
This is beautiful, Renee! It's funny – while I was sitting in the backyard writing mine, there was a dragonfly sitting on a blade of pond grass above a water lily!
This is great, Angela! You managed to tell a complete, engaging story!