sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Poetry Friday: Post It Note Poetry

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poetry-friday-logo

Welcome to Poetry Friday. I’m really enjoying being part of this poetry celebration, connecting with poets and poetry lovers from around the world. I hope you’re enjoying it, too!

February is looking to be a busy month for me. Who am I kidding?  With six kids, doctoral studies and a writing career, every month is a busy month. But February marks the release of my newest novel, 1915, and the busyness of celebrating and promoting means an extra level of busy. (By the way, if you’d like to join in the celebrations, you can leave a comment on the virtual launch below, and go in the draw to win a copy of the book.)

Another thing keeping me busy this month is a poetry challenge. I’ve blogged before about how participating in a writing challenge can be both fun and productive. When I heard about the Post it note Poetry Challenge, I had to give it a go.

The rules of the challenge are simple. Every day in February – or on as many days as you are able – you write a poem on a Post It Note (any size, any colour), take a photo and tweet it with the hashtag #postitnotepoetry. The poem can be any form and on any subject, the only limitation is in keeping it short enough to fit on the post it note.

Here’s one of my efforts: Embedded image permalink

And here’s another:

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It’s not too late to join in with your own poems. The confines of space but can be a good way of condensing your thoughts, and the temporary nature of a post it note means you can use the exercise to draft something that you might rework later.

Poetry Friday today is being hosted by Elizabeth.  You can see a round up of all the wonder that is Poetry Friday at her blog.

See you next week!

Another zeno

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Earlier this week I posted a zeno about my sore back. (If you don’t know what a zeno is, read this post over at Today’s Little Ditty, but the chief characteristics are the syllable count (8,4,2,1,4,2,1,4,2,1 and the way the one syllable lines must all rhyme).

I said at the time that once I’d written one I would probably write more, and I was right.  Here’s another.

 

The Puppy

We have a new pup, Theodore.

He’s a little

Murphpup

Murphpup, who is NOT the dog in the poem.

ball of

fluff.

We all love his

tiny

wuff

but not the way

he chews

stuff.

(Sally Murphy, 2014)

 

When was the last time you tried your hand at writing a poem? Why not try a zeno, for Michelle’s challenge, or just for yourself?

Tag – Rebecca’s It

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I may be about to head off to Canberra, but I managed to find this morning to tag my lovely friend Rebecca Newman in out game of Poetry Tag.

How it works is I give Rebecca some random words, chosen from my magnetic poetry kit, and challenge her to use them all in a poem. It can be any form, length and topic, but she must include the words I’ve given her. The words I’ve given her today are:

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I can’t wait to see what she comes up with. Then, when she’s posted her result, it will be her turn to give me a set of words to incorporate into a poem of my own. Last time she gave me:

 

Words for Sally

The poem I wrote using these three words was this:

Sing

I sing

of a courageous tree

which struggles on

beside the sea

in spite of wind

and waves

and sand

perched

betwixt ocean and land.

 

I sing

of snail

that battles on

though winter’s rains

are so long gone

and shelters

waiting

in fragile shell.

How long

till rain

he cannot tell.

 

I sing

of you

embattled child

whose land

and life

have been defiled.

Who seeks new home

new hope

new place

Yet languish now

in no-man-s space.

 

I sing

to tell the world you’re there.

I sing

to let you know I care.

And like that tree

and like that snail

I sing in hopes

you will prevail.

 

I sing for you

young refugee

in hopes one day

you will be free.

 

I really enjoy this challenge – it’s a fun way to get writing and to share the poetry  journey with a friend.

A Poem: Blue

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The topic for  for this week’s  52-week Illustration Challenge is Watercolours. Because it’s an art challenge, but I’m participating by writing poems, I found this one tricky. Until I remembered something we used to do in primary school with paint and crayons. Here’s what I came up with.

watercolour

I thought about tizzying it up a bit, but actually like the roughness of it.