Poetry Friday: #PoetryCubed early entries!

In case you missed the announcement last week, #PoetryCubed has returned! If you’d like to get those creative juices flowing and possibly win a signed copy of Flashlight Night, then read on, my friend…

If you’ve ever seen “Chopped!” on The Food Network (or have participated in #PoetryCubed! before), then you already know how this works…

#PoetryCubed is based on the TV show “Chopped!” on The Food Network, where chefs compete by creating dishes using specific – and sometimes outlandish – ingredients. (Feel free to check out last week’s post for a more detailed explanation)

So for #PoetryCubed!, I’ve applied the premise of the TV show to poetry! Here’s how it works:

• Use the 3 images below as inspiration to write a poem. (1 poem, to the 3rd power – “cubed!”)
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• The poem can be any form, any genre, any number of lines, rhyming or not. And most importantly…it also doesn’t have to be very good! This is about having fun, so no pressure allowed! Remember my mantra: #WriteLikeNoOneIsReading.
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• Make sure you include a reference to all three images in the poem – either via concrete imagery or something more abstract.
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• Email your poem to me at Matt (at) MattForrest (dot) com and I’ll share them here throughout the month of November. Out of all the poems submitted, one lucky writer will be chosen at random to receive a signed copy of Flashlight Night (Boyds Mills Press), just in time for holiday gift-giving!

Here are the three images (click on any to enlarge):

    

I got things rolling last week with my own response to the challenge, a senryu, and wouldn’t you know…someone else decided to respond with a haiku:
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Powdered sugar snow
Covers rocky island light
Shining out to sea

– © 2017 Deborah Bruss, all rights reserved

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Many thanks to Deb for contributing this! You’ll be hearing a LOT more about Deb in the coming months, as she and I are co-authors of the picture book, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books) which is due out this March.

A second poem took a different route with structure, consisting of four short,  metrical lines that rhyme:

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Rocky start
empty grill
morning breaks
pillow still

– Anonymous

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One of my regular contributors prefers to go unidentified, so I’m honoring his request. I hope you’ll consider entering #PoetryCubed! Send me an email with your poem, and I’ll share it here throughout the month!

What better way to celebrate Friday than with coffee and donuts…today, Jama at Alphabet Soup is hosting Poetry Friday with The Book of Donuts (Terrapin, 2017), a collection of poems I submitted to earlier this year, but alas, was rejected. But it’s a wonderful book, and Jama offers a complete yummy review!

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The “Flashlight Night” road tour continues!

If you’re wondering where I’ll be and when I’ll be there, here’s my updated schedule:

• Nov. 11, noon: Barnes & Noble, Framingham, MA (“The Making of a Book” Children’s Author Day)
• Nov. 18, 3pm: Toadstool Bookshop, Milford, NH
• Dec. 2, 12pm: Barnes & Noble, Peabody, MA
• Dec. 3, 11am: Barnes & Noble, Newington, NH
• (soon-to-be-confirmed: Barnes & Noble, Nashua, NH
• (soon-to-be-confirmed: Concord Hospital Gift Shop, Concord, NH

I’ll continue revising this as dates are added or times are changed…so please check my FB page for any last-minute updates!

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WHAT ARE FOLKS SAYING ABOUT “FLASHLIGHT NIGHT”?

• KIRKUS Starred review!
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• Featured review in Sept. 26, 2017 Shelf Awareness!
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• Amazon “Best Books of the Month,” Sept. 2017!

Thank you so much to all who have enjoyed “Flashlight Night” enough to write about it:

“Delicious language…ingenious metamorphoses” – Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“The verse is incantatory…a simple idea that’s engagingly executed” – School Library Journal

An old fashioned, rip-roaring imaginary adventure” – The Horn Book

“[Esenwine and Koehler] don’t just lobby for children to read—they show how readers play” – Publisher’s Weekly

“Imaginative…fantastical” – Booklist“

“Favorably recalls Where the Wild Things Are” – Shelf Awareness

“Readers, you must share ‘Flashlight Night’…as often as you can” – Margie Myers-Culver, Librarian’s Quest

“Begs to be read over and over” – Michelle Knott, Mrs. Knott’s Book Nook/Goodreads

“A poetic and engaging journey” – Cynthia Alaniz, Librarian In Cute Shoes

“Illuminates the power of imagination” – Kellee Moye, Unleashing Readers

“Readers will be inspired to…create their own journey” – Alyson Beecher, Kidlit Frenzy

“Beautiful words and stunning illustrations” – Jason Lewis, 5th grade teacher at Tyngsboro Elementary School, Tyngsboro, MA

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