Our Poetry Friday host this week is Tanita S. Davis at Fiction, Instead of Lies. Stop by her blog for this week’s poetry link-up.
Happy Poetry Friday, everyone.
I wanted to do NaNoWriMo this year, but knew I wasn’t ready to work on a new a novel. So I set myself a different task: RoPoWriMo.
That’s RObot POem WRIting MOnth. My goal was to write a robot poem every day in November, with the ultimate aim of drafting 40 new poems.
If you follow me on Instagram, you know that the root of this poetry project is my doodles. I started doodling and sharing a daily robot doodle in the spring of 2018, with zero expectations other than having fun and being open about the creative process.
Whether my robot doodle is awkward, awesome, scary, or somehow turns into a human being (that did happen) — it gets posted. MG author Jarrett Lerner and I talked about doodling at the MG Book Village blog a few months ago. You can read the post here.
Some of my favorite bot doodles are peeking out from the corners of this website. Have you spotted them?
Here is one of my favorite doodles, originally drawn for a thank you note to middle grade author Melanie Conklin. (Mel’s new book, Every Missing Piece, comes out in 2020. Can’t wait!)
And here is the nonet the doodle inspired. This was the 40th poem of the project, so I got to wrap it up with a dance party!
Moon Boots
Robot wore moon boots in rainbow hues
(three inch platform galactic shoes)
to the Nebulonic dance
on Planet Happenstance.
His suit — space plastic —
looked moon-tastic.
And those grooves!
Bot’s got
moves.
You are so much fun, Laura! I am thankful for you. xx
Thank you, Amy. I *am* having fun with this project. It’s good to return to poetry for a recharge and some playtime.
Ooooooh yes! I hear you in that poetry recharge and playtime. It’s the perfect vehicle! Loving your Moon Boots moves – and your doodles. Can’t wait to read more! 🙂
I giggle that you wrote ROBOT poems all month. I honestly think that would work for me much better than any NaNo situation (nano-bites of poetry…?) I love the idea of doodling robots, too. I love how you just unleash your creativity here.
Also a little envious of the three-inch platform galactic shoes…
I want those shoes to be a real thing.
I can feel how much fun you had with these. I love this poem. It makes me happy and want to dance.
We all need to learn how to do the ROBOT.
I’ve loved all the robots during this time, Laura, & actually some as you know made me want to name them. So, I imagine your poems, like this with “dance moves” are wonderful. “Moon boots”! How we all loved them!
Planet Happenstance! Love it. I think this project might have legs one day.
I love the playfulness of your nonet robot poem–and I enjoy the doodles on Instagram, too. Your dancing robot in his galactic rainbow boots makes me smile.
Such a fun poem and I love the bot doodle. Great project for the month of November.
Delightful! I want to share that one with my grands… it would spark some fun! Thanks so much for this fun post… and for the inspiration that comes with it.
Your playfulness is an inspiration! Plus, I want some of those boots!!
Love your nonet Laura, especially “Planet happenstance!” And your robots are runderful–good luck with the robot poetry book, thanks.