August DMC Wrap-Up Celebration

Rodrigo Soldon Souza

“Without music, life would be a mistake.”  – Friedrich Nietzsche

At the beginning of this month, Jesse Anna Bornemann challenged us to write a poem inspired by words in a song:

Pick a Beatles song (or, if you're not a Beatles fan, a song by your favorite band), write down as many words from the song as you can, then compose a poem that uses at least three words from your list. Don't tell us the song that inspired your poem—see if we can guess!

And so we began...

gerald murphy

one foot in front of the other...

Newtown grafitti

until we arrived at our own unique concert of poetry.

Leonid Knyshov

Grab a seat on the giant boombox and enjoy the playlist! (I hate to admit it, but our compilation might even be better than some of the mix tapes I recorded off the radio in high school.) See how you do with guessing the songs our poems were based on, but if you have trouble, I've included an answer key below the padlet.

Scroll through the poems below or CLICK HERE to open a new tab. 

ANSWER KEY:

You can click on any of the songs to hear them, but the ones that are marked "video" have interesting visual content.

Amazing Grace — video
"Grace" by Donna JT Smith

Any Dream Will Do
from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
"Any Emoji Will Do" by Helen Zax

Appreciate (Paul McCartney) — video
"You Light Up Our Day!" by Michelle Kogan

Blackbird (The Beatles) — classic video
"Broken Record" by Margaret Simon

Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon and Garfunkel)
"I'm on Your Side" by Donna JT Smith

Father and Son (Cat Stevens) — classic video
"Old and Wise" by Cory Corrado

Fixing a Hole (The Beatles)
"What?" by Linda Mitchell

Hello, Goodbye (The Beatles) — classic video
"Condo, mangrove" by J. G. Annino

Here Comes the Sun (The Beatles)
"Dream" by Sydney O'Neill
"sweet darling" by Carol Varsalona

I Got Plenty of Nothin from Porgy and Bess
"The Choice" by Juanita Havill

I Hope You Dance (Lee Ann Womack) — video
"Dance" by Sherry Howard

I'll Follow the Sun (The Beatles)
"I Dream of Strawberry Fields Forever" by Angelique Pacheco

Imagine (John Lennon) — classic video
"A Tanka" by Dianne Moritz

Let It Be (The Beatles)
"Let memories light our darkest hours" by Madeleine Kuderick
"Words" by Kathleen Mazurowski
"Mother Mary" by Sandie Vaisnoras

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (The Beatles)
"Kaleidoscope Skies" by Kay Jernigan McGriff

Morning Has Broken (Cat Stevens) —video
"Contemplation" by Linda Baie

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (The Beatles)
"Our Yard" by Catherine Flynn

The Rainbow Connection from The Muppet Movie — video
"The Show Must Go On" by Michelle Heidenrich Barnes

Somewhere Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz — classic video
"Somewhere Under the Rainbow" by Mindy Gars Dolandis

Strawberry Fields Forever (The Beatles) — classic video
"I Dream of Strawberry Fields Forever" by Angelique Pacheco

What Does the Fox Say (Ylvis) — video
"What Does the Foreman Say" by Heidi Bee Roemer

While My Guitar Gently Weeps (The Beatles) — *MUST SEE* video
"I Dream of Strawberry Fields Forever" by Angelique Pacheco

Yesterday (The Beatles) — classic video
"Believe" by Molly Hogan
"I Dream of Strawberry Fields Forever" by Angelique Pacheco


Many thanks to everyone who contributed poems to this month's challenge, and especially to orchestrator Jesse Anna Bornemann who kept us tapping our toes AND our keyboards and pencils!

Inspired to write your own poem inspired by song lyrics? 

Visit Jesse's spotlight interview for instructions and then click on the pink dot with the plus sign to add your poem to the padlet. While there aren't many days left in August, I'll be leaving this padlet open indefinitely, so feel free to add to it at any time.

Note for Friday, August 30: I'm on the road, so if you add your poem to the padlet today, it may take me a while to approve and add it to today's post.

Stay tuned for a new reader spotlight next Friday, September 6th.

Join Aussie children's author and poet Kathryn Apel for this week's Poetry Friday roundup!