Poetry Friday: #PoetryCUBED contest means poems are pouring in!

Last week, to celebrate National Poetry Month, I brought back a little contest/writing prompt I created called #PoetryCUBED (you can read the post HERE to get a sense of what it is) – and already, I’m receiving lots of great responses to the challenge!

As I explained in that post, PoetryCUBED is based on The Food Network’s popular show, “Chopped!”, where chefs try to outdo each other by creating dishes with specific ingredients. The dishes are then critiqued by a panel of judges and the chefs go through a series of elimination rounds until one is victorious.

So for this contest, I’ve applied this premise to poetry:

• Use the 3 images (“cubed,” get it??) below as inspiration to write a poem.
• The poem can be any form, any number of lines, rhyming or not. 
• Be sure to include a reference to all three images in the poem – either via concrete imagery or something more abstract. 
• Then email your poem to me at Matt (at) MattForrest (dot) com and I’ll share them here – and at the end of April, one name will be drawn at random to receive your choice of a free, personally-signed copy of one of my books!

If you read last week’s post, you saw my poetic response; here are a few responses I’ve received from fellow blog readers like you!

.

add more tomatoes
chef fluffy tastes and declares
yes, perfect stone soup

– © 2022 Kathleen Mazurowski

.

Puppy Love

Tomatoes are not my thing!
After all,
you can’t catch them,
fetch them,
or s t r e t c h them.
But…
fresh from the vine,
that grassy-green aroma
will turn
this tomato-aversion heart of stone
to mush…
every time.

– © 2022 Rose Cappelli

.

untitled

Doggone! I love tomatoes,
juicy-sweet, taste can’t be beat.
My heart rocks with impatience
‘cause they take a summer’s song
all three months long
to ripen.

– © 2022 Linda Baie

.

Wow! Some pretty cool solutions to this challenge. Using words like “fluffy,” “fetch,” and “doggone” to discreetly reference the dog photo, using images like stone soup to connect the rock with the tomatoes, and even using the word “rocks” as a verb are all creative ways to make use of these images.

How will YOU approach the challenge? You’ve still got a few weeks to send them in, so be sure to email me at Matt (at) MattForrest (dot) com – I’ll share them here and enter you in the contest!

Next week, I’ll be hosting the Poetry Friday roundup here and have an interview planned with my friend Leslie Bulion, whose brand-new picture book Serengeti: Plains of Grass (Peachtree Publishing) came out March 1 – the same day as my I Am Today (POW! Kids Books)! We’ll chat about the book and the craft of writing on April 15, so I hope you’ll join us. Plus, you could win a FREE COPY of the book!

Today’s Poetry Friday roundup is at Salt City Verse, so be sure to stop by Janice Scully’s home on the web for all the poetry links and fun – and a special interview with my friend and neighbor, David Elliott!

^{Be sure to check out all the cool new picture books arriving this year from my PB22Peekaboo partners!}

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Order a PERSONALLY-SIGNED copy of my newest picture book, I AM TODAY (POW! Kids Books),
from my local independent bookstore!

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I’m now a part of the BOOKROO family!

Create an account to add books to wishlists and be notified of special deals and dates…create custom collections…and discover and follow your favorite authors & illustrators!

Find out more about BOOKROO here!

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I continue adding to my “Wit & Wordplay” videos ! These videos were created for parents and educators (along with their kids) to learn how to write poetry, appreciate it, and have fun with it. From alliteration and iambs to free verse and spine poetry, I’m pretty sure there’s something in these videos you’ll find surprising! You can view them all on my YouTube channel, and if you have young kids looking for something to keep busy with, I also have several downloadable activity sheets at my website.

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Ordering personalized signed copies online? Oh, yes, you can!

You can purchase personally-signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Astra Young Readers, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly EVERY book or anthology I’ve been part of!

Click any of the covers below to order!

^{Available now!}

Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send a comment to the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH requesting my signature and to whom I should make it out. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it, and then they’ll ship it! (Plus, you’ll be supporting your local bookseller – and won’t that make you feel good?)

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Thank you to everyone for your support!

FLASHLIGHT NIGHT:

• NY Public Library’s “100 Best Book for Kids 2017” AND “Staff Pick!”
• KIRKUS Starred review!
• Kansas NEA Reading Circle Recommended Books!
• “Best Reads of 2017,” Unleashing Readers
• Finalist, 2019 New Hampshire Literary Awards
• Positive reviews from Horn Book, School Library Connection, School Library Connection, Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, and Shelf-Awareness!

DON’T ASK A DINOSAUR:

• “Rollicking rhyme!” – Booklist
  • “A wild romp!” – Parenting NH Magazine
  • “Cute…intriguing…4 out of 5 stars”     – Tulsa Book Review
  • “Rhythmic…funny and informative”     – Unleashing Readers

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To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right!  (I usually only post once or twice a week – usually Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day) . Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!