It’s Day 12 of our month-long daily writing project.
This year’s theme is FOUND OBJECTS. For those of you who are new to the project, please read my introductory post. You’ll find more information and all of the Week 2 FOUND OBJECTS, which are our writing prompts, at this post.
Two notes today:
First, with so many poets participating regularly, I want to make sure I capture and include everyone’s responses. If I have missed yours, please leave me a note in the comments.
Second, I encourage you to go back and read past day’s poems. We’ve had some late joiners, including Charles Waters, who is catching up with us! You’ll find his and other poems added to each day of our project.
FOUND: Cream? Meringue?
Today’s writing prompt, though clearly in the food category, is difficult for me to identify without taking a taste. Our found object was contributed by Poetry Friday blogger Buffy Silverman. We’ll have to ask her to solve this mystery.
I expect we will see some tasty poems today, everyone.
Today, I decided to try an exercise from a favorite book: FEG: Ridiculous Poems for Intelligent Children, by Robin Hirsh. You take a word (I chose CREAM) and then run that word through all of its vowel sounds. My word list was: CREAM, CRAM, CREME, CRIME, CHROME, CRUMB. Next step, use these as the end words of a poem.
I ended up with an ode to the best cannoli of my life, from Presti’s Bakery in Cleveland. Hmm… maybe I wonder if they ship to Baltimore. This could be the perfect birthday treat.
Ode to a Presti’s Bakery Cannoli
By Laura Shovan
When I found you hanging out in a chrome
plated bakery, I knew your greatest crime
was this: I could only eat one ricotta-cream
filled pastry. Oh, much as I wanted to cram
my mouth with more, I ate not another crumb.
I shall return, my cannoli crème de la crème.
***
Diane Mayr was thinking about birthdays too, with today’s senryu.
sixty-sixth birthday…
the cake frosting loses
its fluffiness
***
After those sweet treats, Patricia VanAmburg had me laughing with her contribution.
But Lard?
By Patricia VanAmburg
Butter cannot match your
Undulations
Tallowed repository
Layered lobes of fat
Assiduously
Rendered
Derogatory term for derriere
***
Photo: Jessica Bigi
Once again, Jessica Bigi created a lovely shape poem that I’m unable to capture here. Apologies!
Writing my name
In sparks of light
Dragon breath colors
Circle night’s sky
Fireflies light our
River bridge
Dad and I can
Hardly wait
Old fashioned vanilla ice-cream
Scooped into root beer
Frosted mug, icy mushes
On the Fourth of July
by Jessica Bigi
***
Mary Lee Hahn says, “This poem should be subtitled ‘Fun with the thesaurus.’ I took Violet’s advice and let loose with some FUN today!” Is anyone else singing Cole Porter music along with this poem?
You’re the Icing on the Cake
You’re the best
you’re the bomb
you’re the highest supreme
unrivaled
unbeaten
you’re king (or you’re queen)
you’re the finest
the greatest
the premier and prime
you’re the jewel in the crown…
we’ll keep you,
You’re fine.
©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015
***
We were definitely in the mood for Italian food today. Donna Smith writes, “A pantoum this morning…coffee anyone? I have no idea if this is what it is, but this is all I could see! Time to make the coffee! And for some unknown reason I thought, hey, why not write a pantoum before you wake up?”
Hot Mocha with Whipped Cream, Please
O’er the frothy brew
Floating peaks of cream
What would be my due –
On roiling mocha stream.
Floating peaks of cream,
Like little white sailed ships
On roiling mocha stream
Greets my waiting lips
Like little white sailed ships,
What would be my due
Greets my waiting lips,
O’er the frothy brew.
©2016, Donna JT Smith, all rights reserved
***
Please stop by Carol Varsalona’s blog Beyond LiteracyLink to read more about her response to today’s object.
***
I like the way Linda Baie acknowledged, then stretched beyond, the food imagery with this prompt.
A Picture Can Bring Many Thoughts
This snowy space lures like icing on a cake,
but don’t suggest it may be sweet.
I feel it only in my imagination,
a dream-whipped cold-
more than sunshine cold for skiing
or snow drift cold for red cheeks and snowball fights,
and snow-fluff cold for making angels.
This cold freezes eyes open, nostrils shut;
teardrops form frozen waterfalls on the eyelids.
This cold makes the news.
Linda Baie ©All Rights Reserved
***
Matt Forrest Esesnwine has “A little sweet haiku” today. I like the play on words here.
Left, right swivel, sway
sideways, sugar’s circle-steps
dance, sweet merengue
© 2016, Matt Forrest Esenwine, all rights reserved
***
Heidi Mordhorst is in with a poem filled with dreamy, creamy, delicious imagery. Well, her blog *is* called My Juicy Little Universe.
snow moon full cream
by Heidi Mordhorst
water bound in ice
under the crust of the moon
when someday
water breaks from ice
up to the dust of the moon
it mounds to this:
canyons and craters
soft peaks of moon rock
swirling and moist
seas of
clouds of vapor
islands of nectar
oceans of
sweet serenity
tranquil fecundity
snow moon full cream
deep space
***
Catherine Flynn says, “Everyone has made me very hungry, and I’m really craving a root beer float thanks to Jessica. My poem for Day 12 is also food related, as Buffy’s photo reminded me of the cream cheese frosting I make for red velvet cupcakes.”
Set before me on a plate of cranberry glass,
cupcakes; moist, velvety mountains
suffused with rich, dark, chocolate,
cloaked in billowy clouds
of velvety icing,
sweet and smooth,
a gift of love
from you.
by Catherine Flynn ***
There are so many ways to enter the poem as we begin writing. Jone MacCulloch says, “I knew it was food but needed to pretend otherwise.”
Unknown
could it be?
froth of a coffee drink?
wet porcelain from a potter’s wheel?
whipped frosting on yesterday’s birthday cake?
shaving cream when Dad use to shave?
could it be?
microbes dancing on a pin?
the moon as bubbly brie cheese?
toothpaste sculpted by toothbrush bristles?
feathers of an owl magnified?
© 2016 Jone Rush MacCulloch all rights reserved
***
Charles Waters had my attention with “coconut milk ice cream” with this poem.
MILKSHAKE INGREDIENTS
By Charles Waters
Vanilla coconut ice cream,
unsweetened cocoa powder,
coconut whipped cream, almond milk,
My gut growls even louder.
Chilled brewed coffee, dump it in,
whip up this frosted confection.
Pour it in a frigid glass,
Vegan milkshake perfection.
***
Margaret Simon sent in this poem about a dessert she had in Italy. She writes in, “When I traveled to Italy I was on a quest for the best tiramisu. In the small town of Orvieto a young girl told me her mamma made the tiramisu. A memory moment of deliciousness. ”
Gelato Flowers
By Margaret SimonLick your fingers
Taste of rum
Runs over my delicate tongue
Mi mamma made with her heart and a touch of Orvieto flowers.***
DAY 13 FOUND OBJECT PROMPT
See you tomorrow for Day 13.
Interested in what we’ve written so far? Here are links to this week’s poems:
Sunday, February 7
FOUND OBJECT: Blood Letting Knife
Poems by: Diane Mayr, Jessica Bigi, Laura Shovan, Catherine Flynn, Linda Baie, Molly Hogan, Carol Varsalona, Mary Lee Hahn, Matt Forrest Esenwine.
Note: You will find links to all of the Week 1 poems at this post.
Monday, February 8
FOUND OBJECT: SCULPTURE IN THE WOODS
Poems by: Laura Shovan, Jessica Bigi, Heidi Mordhorst, Carol Varsalona, Linda Baie, Margaret Simon, Donna Smith, Diane Mayr, Joanne R. Polner, Kay McGriff, Molly Hogan, Mary Lee Hahn, Catherine Flynn, Jone Rush MacCulloch.
Tuesday, February 9
FOUND OBJECT: TIRE TRACKS IN SNOW
Poems by: Molly Hogan, Jessica Bigi, Linda Baie, Violet Nesdoly, Carol Varsalona, Mary Lee Hahn, Donna Smith, Laura Shovan, Diane Mayr, Jone Rush MacCulloch, Catherine Flynn, Kay McGiff, Charles Waters.
Wednesday, February 10 at Reflections on the Teche
FOUND OBJECT: LOTUS PODS
Poems by: Diane Mayr, Patricia VanAmburg, Jessica Bigi, Molly Hogan, Laura Shovan, Charles Waters, Buffy Silverman, Catherine Flynn, Linda Baie, Carol Varsalona, Violet Nesdoly, Heidi Mordhorst, Donna Smith, Mary Lee Hahn, Margaret Simon.
Thursday, February 11
FOUND OBJECT: WALNUT DOLL
Poems by: Diane Mayr, Carol Varsalona, Laura Shovan, Linda Baie, Violet Nesdoly, Donna Smith, Jessica Bigi, Mary Lee Hahn, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Margaret Simon.
Another great batch from so many perspectives & voices. Linda B’s is haunting, with that killer last line.
Can’t believe we’re nearing the halfway mark during Feb. and I haven’t written a single one of these yet! But I finally got all the tax stuff off in the mail today, so….
I’m glad you’re following along, Robyn. I hope you’ll be able to drop in some time.
Oh, wow, I do love your idea for writing, Laura, & the cannoli’s are my dream dessert. Everyone’s poems are delightful: Patricia’s lard, Diane’s look at age and creamy icing, Mary Lee’s song (the cream in my coffee?), Jessica’s memory, Donna’s ‘floating peaks’, and Margaret’s ‘delicate tongue’. Now I want some dessert!
I hope you’ll suggest Mary Lee’s poem paired with a Cole Porter song to Tabatha Yeatts for one of her series of match-ups.
What a good idea, Diane!
Oh, how I wish I could think musically!
Like my earlier object sent, I struggle to write for this new one. But I’m out for the evening, so here it is:
Close Encounters – Advice?
And if you know a puffer fish
at times, they make a ball.
They float away from danger,
quite the smartest act of all.
No one can imagine hidden
in the amazing moon-like puff,
is a prickle that more than tickles
and you’ll soon be feeling rough.
Don’t take a bite or lickle it.
It’ll stop your taste of any dish.
And you certainly cannot tickle it,
the pretty prickle puffer fish.
Linda Baie ©All Rights Reserved
Laura, I got to say the treats from prompt 12 were a poetrylicious bunch. From your amazing little exercise to the finished cannoli poem right down the line to all the writers of the community, I enjoyed each and every sweet poem.
Day 13
Jumprope Rhyme
sticker
pricker
porcupine
burr
spiney
tiney
pokery
fur
seed-head
skeleton
sculpture
fish
never want to
meet you
or find you
in my dish
©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016
http://www.maryleehahn.com/2016/02/found-object-poem-project-jumprope-rhyme.html
Just saw this post–this photo was a surprise to me when I found it on my camera’s card. My son had picked up my camera on Thanksgiving and taken a series of whipped cream shots… Sorry I’ve only written one poem for your series so far, Laura. For some reason your blog is no longer coming to my email, and I couldn’t figure out how to sign up again. Will try to remember to check over here occasionally.
Any time, Buffy. Thank you for contributing the photograph. As you can tell, everyone enjoyed diving in.
Laura, I love how you arrived at your poem. I will definitely be trying that! Everyone has made me very hungry, and I’m really craving a root beer float thanks to Jessica. My poem for Day 12 is also food related, as Buffy’s photo reminded me of the cream cheese frosting I make for red velvet cupcakes.
Set before me on a plate of cranberry glass,
cupcakes; moist, velvety mountains
suffused with rich, dark, chocolate,
cloaked in billowy clouds
of velvety icing,
sweet and smooth,
a gift of love
from you.
Here’s mine:
Unknown
could it be?
froth of a coffee drink?
wet porcelain from a potter’s wheel?
whipped frosting on yesterday’s birthday cake?
shaving cream when Dad use to shave?
could it be?
microbes dancing on a pin?
the moon as bubbly brie cheese?
toothpaste sculpted by toothbrush bristles?
feathers of an owl magnified?
© 2016 Jone Rush MacCulloch all rights reserved
I knew it was food but needed to pretend otherwise. Love all the different takes on these photos.
[…] Friday, February 12 FOUND OBJECT: WHIPPED CREAM Poems by: Patricia VanAmburg, Diane Mayr, Jessica Bigi, Margaret Simon, Mary Lee Hahn, Donna Smith, Linda Baie, Carol Varsalona, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Laura Shovan, Heidi Mordhorst. […]
[…] Friday, February 12 FOUND OBJECT: CREAM? MERINGUE? Poems by: Patricia VanAmburg, Diane Mayr, Jessica Bigi, Margaret Simon, Mary Lee Hahn, Donna Smith, Linda Baie, Carol Varsalona, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Laura Shovan, Heidi Mordhorst. […]
[…] Friday, February 12 FOUND OBJECT: Whipped Cream Poems by: Patricia VanAmburg, Diane Mayr, Jessica Bigi, Margaret Simon, Mary Lee Hahn, Donna Smith, Jone Rush MacCulloch, Catherine Flynn, Linda Baie, Carol Varsalona, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Laura Shovan, Heidi Mordhorst, Charles Waters. […]