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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.
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.
Love your poem, Michelle! It's a humdinger, and your suitcase is full of magic. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for hosting this week (my link goes live at 6 a.m. Friday)!
Thanks, Jama. Better magic than ketchup packets. (I have no idea why I just said that.)
DeleteGreat way to show off some of your favorite words! Your poem flows quite nicely, I believe the form suits your words.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that I struggled with those 7-syllable lines mightily, I thank you from the bottom of my free-flowing heart!
DeleteLove it, Michelle. I have a suitcase full, too. :-) Thanks for hosting.
ReplyDeleteA fairy-sized suitcase or a human-sized one? ;)
DeleteLove 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.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sally. That's one of the best ways to travel with words!
DeleteWhat a fun metaphor for words--as long as I don't lose my luggage. Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteNo kidding, Laura. I feel like I lose a little more of my luggage every single day!
DeleteAs Diane said, what a great way to show off your favourite words and still maintain the integrity of the form!
ReplyDeleteGreat poem, Michelle. It's so rich in language. I think the metaphor works really well!
ReplyDeleteMy 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.
Thanks, Laura! I love your new pet dragon. :)
DeleteMichelle, 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
ReplyDeletewith some travel companions.
Hope you have a terrific time in Las Vegas, Carol!
Delete"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! =)
ReplyDeleteYup. Mine too. I think they've figured out that I need them more than they need me!
DeleteI'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.
ReplyDeleteYou 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.
DeleteWhat 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.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Linda. I love your map-wandering septercet, too!
DeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome to use the PF image, Margaret. It's in the public domain. Loved your septercet today!
DeleteLove both the septercet challenge and your poem, Michelle! I might try that one with my young teen writing group.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting! I'm in this week with an original poem (not a septercet, though.) :)
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.
DeleteThat 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
ReplyDeleteI should be thanking you, Amy! I think at some level my poem was inspired by your word list post. :) xo
DeleteThanks for hosting the roundup this week. I enjoyed your septercet.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Elaine.
DeleteDear 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
ReplyDeleteAs I told Margaret, the PF logo is a public domain image. You're welcome to use it, Irene. xo
DeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteHappy Poetry Friday and thanks for hosting.
I can totally see that, Penny! Bumble and his loyal sidekick Wallop, action heroes. :D
DeleteYour poem is one of my favorite septercets, Michelle. Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks so much, Tabatha. xo
DeleteLove 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!!!!
ReplyDeleteHow 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.
DeleteThis 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!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kiesha.
DeleteThanks for hosting, Michelle, and for introducing us to Jane's septercets! I love yours with its mashup of vocabulary and travel! So fun!
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised that particular mashup would appeal to you, Sylvia!
DeleteWonderful way to start the day. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank YOU, Kathy. I appreciate you stopping by!
DeleteNo 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!
ReplyDeleteYou're a gem, Linda. I'm so glad you liked it! :)
DeleteGreat words in your poem... words don't really have a permanent home, do they? They are always ready to move!
ReplyDeleteLove 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?
Exactly, Donna! I'd like to think words would be happy enough living in my suitcase, but they're far too restless.
DeleteVery nice, Michelle. Also, wonderful interview with Jane Yolen.
ReplyDeleteI 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
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoy the monthly challenges, Jessica! I feel blessed by all of you.
DeleteThis is delightful! You've combined my two favorite things, writing and travel. Always a great combo.
ReplyDeleteThey do make a good pairing, don't they! Thanks for stopping by, David.
DeleteI love the idea of a suitcase full of words. Wonderful poem, Michelle. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rosi... happy writing travels to you!
DeleteLove 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!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Molly. How does the saying go? One person's clutter is another's novel-in-verse? Okay, I made that up.
DeleteArriving 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!
ReplyDeleteAs words go, humdinger is a doozy... oooh, doozy! That's another good one. :)
DeleteLovely metaphorical imagery Michelle, and I enjoyed the fun trip too!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michelle!
DeleteI love bumble & all your words with no place to go.
ReplyDeleteMethinks 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.
Haha! Doubtful, Jan, though I appreciate your confidence in my creative abilities!
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