Kelly Bennett's Blog, page 66

Poetry Challenge #43-It's A Bird! It's A Plane! It's . . .

There are days when I really need a superpower. Today is one of those days. I'm thinking you might wish you were a superhero too, sometimes.

Since Superman, Wonder Woman, Catboy, Flash, Batman & Robin are taken, we're going to have to create other...better! Interesting! (Useful, at least) Superhero personas of our own.

Unfurl those capes, don those masks and let's get to it!

Poetry Challenge #43: It's A Bird! It's A Plane! It's . . . If you could be a Superhero what would your super power be...

Poetry Challenge #42: WIZZ! BOOM! BANG! BWEEEEE!

This year's Fourth of July celebration was the longest ever--almost 2 weeks long! Fireworks began popping, smoke bombs frizzing, grills sizzling, ice clinking the last weekend in June and carried on to last night's finale-- WIZZ-BANG-BOOM TAH-DAH! (hence the tardiness of this post.) While Firework memories are still fresh, let's try capturing them:

Poetry Challenge #42: WIZZ! BOOM! BANG! BANG! BWEEEE! Make some Fourth of July noise! Close your eyes and recall all those Fourth of July celebrati...

Poetry Challenge #41-Let's Get Physical!

There is “something” in the way we move. The way our muscles, tendons, bones, joints, skin . . . work together to create movement. Watching someone move is one thing, describing what that movement looks or feels like is another. People are sometimes likened to animals, machines, plants, geological formations. Likewise, machines, animals, plants, etc, are sometimes likened to people in songs, stories, and yes, poetry.

Poetry Challenge #41 Let’s Get Physical Watch or imagine someone or something...

Poetry Challenge #40-Phone Home!

It's the last day of Spring/first day of Summer and if you're like me, you are itching to get out in it. Summertime poetry awaits! But the Challenge can't! At the risk of sounding like a telemarketer: All I'm asking for is seven minutes of your time--Okay, maybe 7 and a half (I know, Liz, Sally, Claire, I couldn't resist)--and your phone number. Here goes:

Poetry Challenge #40 Phone Home For this challenge, write your phone number (including the area code) down the page, one number on each lin...

Poetry Challenge #39-Kodachrome

When I think back on all the @#$! I learned in college, a disturbing experiment I learned about in PR 101 floats up: Subliminal Advertising. (Okay, yes, maybe it came to mind because I’m feeling a tad guilty and extremely bloated after devouring by the fistful more than my half of the movie popcorn last night.)

As if Psyco wasn't scary enough . . .

Short History Lesson: This idea of Subliminal Advertising came from a 1957 study by James Vicary, a market researcher who inserted the words "Eat...

Poetry Challenge #38-A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

How about a picture is worth seven minutes of words? Or a picture is worth a poem? Poetry Challenge #38 A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words Find a picture. It can be of anything. Look at the picture. Study it. Notice not just the main subject, but the background, the colors, the feelings. Now write about the picture. It could be thoughts from one of the people or objects in the photo. It could be description. It could be a story. The New York Times has a resource with pictures to use as prompts if...

Poetry Challenge #37-Put Me In Coach!

The “Kansas Comet,” Gayle Sayers, considered “one of the greatest players in NFL history,” was born on May 30, 1943.

(I don’t recall ever actually seeing Gayle Sayers play. In my mind he’s Billy D. Williams from the 1971 movie Brian’s Song. If you haven’t seen it, you should—bring tissues.)

Sayer, who played for the Chicago Bears, said, “I had a style all my own. The way I ran, lurchy, herky-jerky, I kept people off-guard…”

“Lurchy, herky-jerky” works! Football fans take note: For the record, S...

Poetry Challenge #36-In Memory of...Bees

Today as I was walking through the field, I noticed bees drunk with happiness, rolling on the golden yellow dandelions. So many flowers! So much nectar! So many bees!

I was about ten years old when I experienced my first bee sting. I stepped (barefoot) on a bee in the driveway, jumped with the surprise and ouch of the sting on my toe, and my leg swelled up above my knee! I remember earlier bees than that, too: the bees that chased my next door neighbor when she poked a stick into their groun...

Poetry Challenge #35-Riffing Rhyming it So!

It's raining where I live. It rained yesterday. And the day before.  And guess what? Tomorrow is forecasted to be another dreary. Rainy. Blucky day. (Yes, I know rain is good for the flowers, but it’s been raining so much, even the flowers are drooping.)

Remember that nursery rhyme, “Rain, Rain go away…” I’m singing it today, just as we used to sing it when I was a kid. And dang if it didn’t work…sometimes. (Even when it didn’t, just singing it made us feel sunny.) Let’s give it a try:

Poetry...

Poetry Challenge #34-I Have Never __________

Pet Tigers seem to be a thing . . .

There are many things I’ve never done. Truths and Lies: I’ve never pet a tiger although I had a stuffed one growing up. I’ve never eaten snails or octopus. I’ve never run a marathon or climbed a mountain over 3000 feet tall.

Poetry Challenge #34 I Have Never ___________________

Make a list of some things you’ve never done. Try dividing your list into sections: things you’ve never done and never want to do, things you’d like to do but haven’t done yet, and th...