Welcome to my month-long #WaterPoemProject, Poetry Friday friends.
It’s Day 5. All week, we have been writing in response to prompts about water.
If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
For #WaterPoemProject regulars who are new to Poetry Friday, each week a kidlit blogger hosts poetry-related links and posts from around the kidlitosphere. This week’s host is Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference. (Thanks, Tabatha!) Still confused? Renée LaTulippe has a great post about our weekly poetry party.
Poet and educator Margaret Simon put together a video for today’s prompt.
Margaret’s poetry prompt is: The Taste of Water
Are you new to tanka poems? The tanka is a traditional Japanese form related to haiku. Find out more about this form at Tanka Online.
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Your task is to draft a “Taste of Water” tanka before the end of the day tomorrow, Friday, March 27, 2020. Alternate ideas: try a tanka on any water-related subject, or write a water poem filled with as many taste words as you can think of.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Poet and educator Margaret Simon lives on the Bayou Teche in New Iberia, Louisiana. She blogs about poetry and life on the bayou at Reflections on the Teche.
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#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Prompt 9: Kathryn Apel, Silly Solage
Prompt 10: Buffy Silverman, A Watery Home
Prompt 11: Kara Laughlin, Frozen Fog
Prompt 12: Debbie Levy, Jump into a Limerick
Prompt 13: Joy McCullough, What Are Water Bears?
Prompt 14: Linda Baie, Frozen Water Skinny
Prompt 15: Chris Baron, The Hidden World of Water
Prompt 16: Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Water Wordplay
Prompt 17: Susan Tan, The Sound of Water
Prompt 18: Mike Grosso, Waterplay!
Prompt 19: R. L. Toalson, Wishing Well
Prompt 20: Margarita Engle, Ode to the Shore
Prompt 21: Faye McCray, Poem in a Bubble
Prompt 22: Meg Eden, Surprising Connections
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
Margaret, listening to you and the wind chimes is soooooo soothing. I love hearing you share poems out of Bayou Song on video. This one was perfect for today’s prompt. I spent the day away from water. So, I had to get home, watch your video and draft from a long ago memory.
salt water taffy
why would anyone eat that?
ocean water stingsmy tongue
raw when I tumble
into waves…but Grandpa
says try it….mmmmmm. YUM!
ooops! I’m a day ahead.
“Stings my tongue” is a great description of that first taste of ocean water. Thanks for playing along.
ooops! again. My formatting is off.
salt water taffy
why would anyone eat that?
ocean water stings
my tongue raw when I tumble
into waves…but Grandpa
says try it…mmmmmmm. Yum!
No worries! It’s a yummy poem no matter how you format it.
Now I want saltwater taffy. What’s your favorite flavor?
Tongues filled with iron;
dipping lips cherish water
where nature has been
living – these unknown forces
lost to imagination
— I went sort of traditional Tanka (5-7-5-7-7) but was intrigued by the notion in the explanation of “… Japanese syllables are shorter than English language syllables, resulting in shorter poems even though the syllable count is the same.”
Kevin
That taste of iron reminds me of blood. The imagery of dipping lips cherishing water cools and soothes.
Yes! When I’m teaching haiku, my suggestion for kids is “short, long, short” is more important than “5, 7, 5.”
“drink”
breath short and ragged
i fill my glass in earnest
clean, cold, crystal clear
what is simple is thrilling
when my thirst is quenched
Thrilling to take a sip of water when you are thirsty. Thanks for taking the challenge!
Wow, Mia! Those last two lines perfectly capture how refreshing water is when you’re thirsty.
This challenged me, but here goes. Thank you all for doing this project.
YELLOW SWIM RAFT
Sun drenched afternoon
like a sharp slice of lemon
floating and drifting
citrus sour, bottomless,
a lake of blue lemonade
You nailed it, Janice, with your blue lemonade. Hearts!
Janice, I love the way you riffed on the color yellow. The sun, the raft, the citrus — it all says “summer.”
Loved hearing your voice & those chimes, looking behind you to the GREEN, Margaret. It is a wonderful post in Laura’s water challenge.
One benefit of sheltering in place is all of the videos. We get to see what it’s like where our friends live and Margaret lives in a truly beautiful place.
These poems in the comments are wonderful (As was the one you read in the video, of course), but they’re making me thirsty! I’m so happy you’ve stepped out of your comfort zone to record these videos, Margaret. It seems like such a natural fit for you.
I agree, Michelle. It’s wonderful to have Margaret introducing the prompt and seeing the bayou.
I love that you are doing this series you are doing with kids. I haven’t been writing along this time, but I am following the prompts to inspire me. I hope many kids are enjoying it, too.
Thanks, Kay. I haven’t written yet, either, but I’m hoping to start soon and catch up. Maybe for National Poetry Month.
Laura, today I decided to play in the splashy waters of your #WaterPoemProject. A Taste of Water appeared to be a tricky prompt for me also. I ended up using a photo of the marshland nature preserve I took as winter was leaning into spring. My husband was prompting me to capture a flock of birds springing up from the water into the blue sky (a rarity these days on Long Island). While you can’t see the photo (it will be on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter), I will share two tankas.
Tanka #1
birds dip, swishing down
nature’s cooling elixir
exiting upward
tonic splashes reeds
spring slurps of life
Tanks #2
sweet soda pop fizzle,
glistening bird bath water
refreshes winter fowl
amidst splashy gathering
springtime reawakens earth
I’m glad you took the challenge, Carol. I think it stretched your writing and made some unique imagery appear, like tonic splashes reeds and spring slurps to life. I’ll look for the image on your social media.
I left you a note on twitter about the “soda pop fizzle.” As I’m reading this today, it’s the word “tonic” that jumps out at me. Thanks for sharing your poems!
It’s so good to see and hear you! Your warm, sunshiney, green, breezy teche is so inviting!
Here’s my tanka. We had some serious flooding after last weekend’s 3″ downpour. Our neighbor’s yard was completely under water. My iris by the back fence were swimming. So my taste is a little…different.
muddy milk chocolate
mucky frothy hot cocoa
puddle of gravy
flood waters look delicious
you won’t be tricked by their smell
Hi, Mary Lee. I’m sorry to hear about the flooding. That can be very scary. I like the turn your poem takes in the last line.
It feels like March is National Poetry Month, too! Very cool that you could put this together so quickly, Laura, and nice job, Margaret! I am super intrigued by Janice’s response and its “sharp slice of lemon.”
Yes! Originally, I was going to do the project in April, but I know educators and families need content now. The prompts have been just as creative as the poems.
burbling brook
fleecy blush of pink blossoms
lilting bird song
peace tendrils in marrow
treasure for the pocket of my mind
[…] Would a Raindrop Say? Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory […]
[…] Would a Raindrop Say? Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory […]