Thursday, September 15, 2016

DMC: "No Words of My Own" + The Poetry Friday Roundup


TheDigitalWay (public domain)


WELCOME! 
You've found your way to the Poetry Friday roundup. 

Find out more about Poetry Friday HERE.


At Today's Little Ditty, I've been sharing septercets that feature reading or writing— Jane Yolen's DMC challenge for September. (Read my interview with Jane HERE.) A septercet is a poetry form she invented that has lines of seven syllables organized into three-line stanzas. Your septercet can be rhymed or not, and have as many stanzas as you like. This week I posted the work of Jane Baskwill, Jan Godown Annino, and Julie Larios, as well as Jane Yolen's response to her own challenge.

 

Visit our September 2016 padlet to read all the septercets collected so far, or to leave one of your own. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, September 30th, and one lucky participant will win a signed copy of THE ALLIGATOR'S SMILE (Millbrook Press, 2016)— a fantastic new collection of nonfiction poetry by Jane Yolen, with stunning photography by Jason Stemple.


Here is my contribution to the septercet challenge.

NO WORDS OF MY OWN

I have no words of my own.
They travel in a suitcase—
nouns and verbs and adjectives,

adverbs with no place to be—
crammed in like hotel soaps and
tiny bottles of shampoo.

Words like bumble and wallop,
humdinger and pernicious,
they moisturize, volumize,

but otherwise come and go
as they please. Such is the way
with some travel companions.


© 2016 Michelle Heidenrich Barnes. All rights reserved.


THE POETRY FRIDAY ROUNDUP


For those who have words to share, please leave your links below.




Come back next Friday when I'll be power walking through PowerPack 6 of Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong's YOU JUST WAIT: A Poetry Friday Power Book, including my own "shapely" poem in response. (Ah, if only exercise were that easy!)







62 comments:

  1. Love your poem, Michelle! It's a humdinger, and your suitcase is full of magic. :)

    Thanks so much for hosting this week (my link goes live at 6 a.m. Friday)!

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    1. Thanks, Jama. Better magic than ketchup packets. (I have no idea why I just said that.)

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  2. Great way to show off some of your favorite words! Your poem flows quite nicely, I believe the form suits your words.

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    1. Considering that I struggled with those 7-syllable lines mightily, I thank you from the bottom of my free-flowing heart!

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  3. Love it, Michelle. I have a suitcase full, too. :-) Thanks for hosting.

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  4. Love your septercet - found it especially appealing as I've just been travelling around with my suitcase full of books and activities speaking at schools and libraries.

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    1. Thanks, Sally. That's one of the best ways to travel with words!

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  5. What a fun metaphor for words--as long as I don't lose my luggage. Thanks for hosting!

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    1. No kidding, Laura. I feel like I lose a little more of my luggage every single day!

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  6. As Diane said, what a great way to show off your favourite words and still maintain the integrity of the form!

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  7. Great poem, Michelle. It's so rich in language. I think the metaphor works really well!

    My family put up our own Little Free Library this week. Stop by my post to read about our dragon theme, and a welcome poem for library visitors.

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  8. Michelle, I am so behind in my reading of PF posts. There are so many wonderful writers in this community so it is fun trying to read through as many as possible. Your poem is perfect for my traveling this week to Las Vegas. I want to take my words with me but realize that new ones will be walking into my life as I travel to Las Vegas on a family holiday. Your last line sums it all up for me: Such is the way
    with some travel companions.

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  9. "Such is the way", isn't it? My words go on vacation without me all the time, Michelle. lol. Thanks for sharing your poem and hosting the round up! =)

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    1. Yup. Mine too. I think they've figured out that I need them more than they need me!

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  10. I'm in with a septercet that stretches the rules of the challenge, but at least I met the poetic challenge this month! I'll be thinking of your poem -- I'll take an extra suitcase full of words with me to the Casting for Recovery retreat this weekend.

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    1. You sure did, Mary Lee! And with fluttering flair, I might add. Have fun fishing this weekend! I hope you'll also catch a few words in a poem for us.

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  11. What a wonderful suitcase.....not only does it make me want to write....but to travel somewhere to do it. A most excellent rise to the challenge. Hugs and hi-fives for hosting this week. You remain a constant inspiration.

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  12. I carry around a suitcase of words from everyone here, my inspiration. I am posting a fairy tale poem from Ava Leavell Haymon and my own septercet fairy tale poem. Can we use the PF image you have of the girl writing? I love that one.

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    1. You're welcome to use the PF image, Margaret. It's in the public domain. Loved your septercet today!

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  13. Love both the septercet challenge and your poem, Michelle! I might try that one with my young teen writing group.

    Thanks for hosting! I'm in this week with an original poem (not a septercet, though.) :)

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    1. Thanks, Karen. I bet the septercet would be a great challenge for tweens and teens! I would love to see what they come up with.

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  14. That second stanza...I love it and totally see it! You are a generous travel companion here on the Poetry Friday road...thank you so much for hosting and for all that you always give to this community. xx

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    1. I should be thanking you, Amy! I think at some level my poem was inspired by your word list post. :) xo

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  15. Thanks for hosting the roundup this week. I enjoyed your septercet.

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  16. Dear Michelle, I love your travel companions and how they moisturize and volumize. :) I'm enamored of the girl writing with the PF logo included... nice! Thanks for hosting and for all you do! xo

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    1. As I told Margaret, the PF logo is a public domain image. You're welcome to use it, Irene. xo

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  17. I love your poem, Michelle. It's fun to think of words crammed in a suitcase. You chose some fun words in the third stanza. I could see bumble and wallop in action like cartoon characters.
    Happy Poetry Friday and thanks for hosting.

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    1. I can totally see that, Penny! Bumble and his loyal sidekick Wallop, action heroes. :D

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  18. Your poem is one of my favorite septercets, Michelle. Thanks for hosting!

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  19. Love the idea, love the words, love the form. Love Poetry Friday and a goal to be a more active participant this year!! Janet Clare aka Janet F. for Fagal. This poem would be a great addition to my Word of the Day activity !! The kids (mine especially since I knew them best) would love this. Pernicious, humdinger, wallop et al. I helped my kids want to love words, listen for them and gather them. First to their heart, then to the page and hopefully to their life. All kinds of words. It worked so well in grade three. It was like we were finding treasure. So NO weekly vocab lists needed !! They brought me words they found like little offerings. Kept in the suitcase of our shared memory. Thanks for the walk down a teacher's memory lane!!!!

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    1. How wonderful, Janet! Thank you for sharing your special grade three memories— I can totally see third graders hoping to impress their favorite teacher with words they've collected. :) Amy LV is the one who inspired me to keep an ongoing list of favorite words. It's on my phone so I can add to it whenever and wherever they pop up.

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  20. This poem is amazing, Michelle! I am working on creating lots of word luggage to carry around with me wherever I go. Thanks for hosting today!

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  21. Thanks for hosting, Michelle, and for introducing us to Jane's septercets! I love yours with its mashup of vocabulary and travel! So fun!

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    1. I'm not surprised that particular mashup would appeal to you, Sylvia!

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  22. Wonderful way to start the day. Thank you.

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  23. No PF for me today, Michelle, but had to tell you how wonderful this poem is, something to save by all poets! Love "they moisturize, volumize," Just perfect!

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  24. Great words in your poem... words don't really have a permanent home, do they? They are always ready to move!
    Love this challenge!
    Now I have to go back and read the first of the month... I want to see if Jane mentioned which comes first in non-fiction poetry - the picture or the poem?

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    1. Exactly, Donna! I'd like to think words would be happy enough living in my suitcase, but they're far too restless.

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  25. Very nice, Michelle. Also, wonderful interview with Jane Yolen.

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  26. I Love your poem Michelle and your words are wonderful I love the image of having a suitcases full of words Thank you for Blessing our lives with wonderful poetry and friendship and the wonderful Mounty blog you have for us xx

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    1. I'm glad you enjoy the monthly challenges, Jessica! I feel blessed by all of you.

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  27. This is delightful! You've combined my two favorite things, writing and travel. Always a great combo.

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    1. They do make a good pairing, don't they! Thanks for stopping by, David.

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  28. I love the idea of a suitcase full of words. Wonderful poem, Michelle. Thanks!

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  29. Love the poem, Michelle. I'm entranced by the vision of those wonderful words jumbled in your suitcase like tiny shampoo bottles. Thanks so much for hosting this week!

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    1. Thanks, Molly. How does the saying go? One person's clutter is another's novel-in-verse? Okay, I made that up.

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  30. Arriving late this week, but love your septercet! So fun to think of those occasional companions moisturizing and volumizing. Love some of our chosen words, especially humdinger!

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    1. As words go, humdinger is a doozy... oooh, doozy! That's another good one. :)

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  31. Lovely metaphorical imagery Michelle, and I enjoyed the fun trip too!

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  32. I love bumble & all your words with no place to go.

    Methinks a writer as creative as you will open the suitcase one morning & one tucked away word from the traveling crew will plunk onto the page, perfectly.

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    1. Haha! Doubtful, Jan, though I appreciate your confidence in my creative abilities!

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