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Friday, September 9, 2011

A Word with Laurie


We live in a hurried society with communication right at our fingertips. Our mobile devices cling to us like babies on our hips. There has never been a better time for poets and writers to share their passion with the world; press ‘send’ and you’re there.

At the same time, people are being bombarded with messages, texts, emails and status updates. Many discover they have a limited amount of time to read everything they would like to. I don’t know about you, but I would rather not have someone pass over my piece because it is too long. So today I’d like to offer you the opportunity to write a short poem.

One word. That’s all I’m asking of you; to incorporate the word I give you into your poem. But wait! There’s a catch. The piece can be no longer than eight lines. AND you must time yourself. The poem should be written in a minute.

I’d like to bring a little music to our poetry, so the word I’ve chosen is allegro (briskly) which is how you should embrace this challenge.

To sum it up:
One word (allegro), one octave, one minute

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20 comments:

  1. Kerry O'ConnorSeptember 9, 2011 at 7:32 AM

    This is a great challenge, Laurie. Thank you for joining our team of contributors on Real Toads.

    I'm going to kick this off by taking 1 minute to write something directly into this box:

    I tuck a pencil behind my ear
    bite my lip
    and ponder the problem:
    I want to tell you
    again and again
    that, you know, I really do
    love you
    but I haven't the time - allegro

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  2. Laurie KolpSeptember 9, 2011 at 7:55 AM

    I'm excited about it, Kerry. Thank you! I can't wait to read everyone's poems allegro.

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  3. RJ ClarkenSeptember 9, 2011 at 9:24 AM

    Thanks Laurie! This was fun!

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  4. UnknownSeptember 9, 2011 at 9:25 AM

    Freaking Fun!!!

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  5. jabblogSeptember 9, 2011 at 10:03 AM

    This prompted an outpouring of more rubbish from me . . .

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  6. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2011 at 10:44 AM

    i'll follow kerry's example and just go for it right now...

    (ok. not sure on the time, and i fudged the lines. '-' indicates line break.)
    oh, and 'alegre' is 'happy' in spanish.
    there we go:

    allegro days

    -we live allegro (though not alegre)
    -walk allegro, fingers textwheeling, sliding past strangers as though they weren't there.
    -drive allegro, weaving and getting-to, (always always about the getting-to)
    -think allegro thoughts in sound bytes and noddings-along with supposed mogul-mouthed mavens
    -we eat allegro, love allegro, see allegro, feel allegro
    -and all is brisk brush strokes
    -and there is no time for being
    -the kind of being where we're not even ourselves (how tiresome we become),but simply existing.
    -today i will open the gate and invite allegro to fly the coop, and i will draw a deep draught breath, and smile at the world, hand in hand with adaggio.

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  7. Kerry O'ConnorSeptember 9, 2011 at 11:21 AM

    Ooooo! I love your take, Shawnacy. Especially the play on alegre, and the insertion of adaggio at the end.
    After I scribbled mine in the comment box, I went back and added it to my blog... I didn't want to lose my momentum.

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  8. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2011 at 12:19 PM

    This really was a great challenge, a minute suddenly seemed so short!

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  9. Laurie KolpSeptember 9, 2011 at 12:28 PM

    shawnacymariekiker... I really like:

    all is brisk brush strokes

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  10. AnonymousSeptember 9, 2011 at 8:16 PM

    Thanks for directing me over here, Laurie. It was a "grooooovy"! ;)

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  11. Kerry O'ConnorSeptember 10, 2011 at 12:43 AM

    @OT - it's great to see you writing outside your comfort zone! I think your 8 lines are packed with many excellent images - perhaps something you could work on and expand...?

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  12. brenda wSeptember 10, 2011 at 8:12 AM

    Hello everyone...This is my second post. I broke the rules and wrote until my stream of consciousness stopped. It was less than two minutes. My apologies...my muse hasn't seen much exercise, and had to have her way.

    I'm glad you are here, Saturdays work for me to read and write poetry. :)

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  13. Laurie KolpSeptember 10, 2011 at 8:36 AM

    Thanks for hopping by!

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  14. Doctor FTSESeptember 10, 2011 at 12:42 PM

    What a splendid prompt! I don't know if I was inside the minute because my metronome ran down . . .

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  15. JinksySeptember 10, 2011 at 1:00 PM

    I did one this morning, but have had computer/blog hassles, so I'm putting it here, instead!

    Allegro- that's how the day flies!
    I turn my back and it has gone.
    This always give me a surprise
    and I bet I'm not the only one!

    You can tell it only took me a matter of seconds! LOL

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  16. Laurie KolpSeptember 10, 2011 at 3:03 PM

    Jinksy- I love days like that. Thanks for participating!

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  17. TrellissimoSeptember 12, 2011 at 2:11 AM

    Love's young dream, perhaps?

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  18. EllaSeptember 13, 2011 at 10:22 PM

    Laurie,
    This sounds like fun; I will be back to post mine! I have missed so much...

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  19. Sherry Blue SkySeptember 16, 2011 at 11:24 AM

    Just found this today. Jotted down the thoughts that came:)

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  20. rhymeswithplagueSeptember 17, 2011 at 8:10 AM

    Like Sherry above me, I just found this today.

    Here's my contribution.

    Thanks for the fun.

    ReplyDelete

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