Writers Workshop: Alphabet Soup

This week, Mama Kat is offering these five writing prompts:

1.) For your birthday a sibling has decided to have the first six months of your blog printed and bound. Write a forward for the book.

2.) Write a 26-line poem using all the letters of the alphabet, where the first line starts with the letter "A," the second "B," the third "C," etc., culminating with the final line starting with "Z."(writersdigest.com)

3.) Start your story with, "In retrospect, I wouldn't say it was my best idea." And end it with, "And that's how I attempted to make this world a better place.(writersdigest.com)

4.) What would the truth have done? Write about a time when honesty was NOT the best policy.(writingfix.com)

5.) What made your childhood bearable? Write about it.(writingfix.com)

Well, I immediately nixed choice #1. I know that Sister Kitten would rawther write the forward, and she always surprises me with what she writes about. I know I could get really creative with choice #3, but I am sleep deprived right now and don't have the energy to think much. Choices #4 and 5 would lead to something schmaltzy, and I'm not in the mood for schmaltz tonight.

The alphabet poem did sound like fun, though, and I'm gonna give that a try...here goes...

Another day, another dollar,
But I really want to hollar,
Can I take this great day off?

Don't tell me that I'm whining,
Even though I'm really pining
For change--perhaps a new coif?

Gotta be grateful these days
Have a job with decent wage,
I know I'm very lucky.

Just the other week,
Karma seemed real bleak,
Layoff--that would be sucky.

My boss gave us the news,
No job cuts--we said "Phew!"
Onto brighter days.

Please forgive this author,
Quite frankly, it's a bother
Rhyming leaves me hazed.

So in conclusion I
Think think that I will try
Undoing all my rhymes.

Very quickly I realize
Why I can't apologize
EXcept these aren't the times.

You see, I have to finish what I started.
Zing! I'm done--I'm now departed.

I thought the rhymes would be catchy, but I'll be honest with you--this was very difficult! Once I start to rhyme, I can't stop. It was hard enough coming up with the letters of the alphabet!!

On a side note: Jenners, this'll be my entry for your bad writing game.

At least I got something outta the deal.

And now...haiku time...with exclusive extras!

Tiffany over at Poetry and Hums hosts a weekly haiku prompt. Since I've recently been hit by the haiku bug, I thought I'd become a regular participant.

This week, the prompt is about butterflies. Here is my attempt:

"La mariposa"
Is Spanish for butterfly.
Es muy bonita.

I like haiku because it's quick and easy to create.

My bloggy friend Jenners over at Life With a Little One and More recently wrote a post on something called "found poems" and posted some examples of her own "found poems". According to poets.org, a found poem takes "take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems. The literary equivalent of a collage, found poetry is often made from newspaper articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches, letters, or even other poems." Read more about found poems here.

Jenners wrote her found poems based on random words she looked up in the dictionary. I decided to try this exercise, opened up my tres old Webster's American College Dictionary, and found this:

parquet: n., v.: N: 1. a floor composed of short strips or blocks of wood forming a pattern, sometimes with inlays of other woods or other materials. 2. the front part of the main floor of a theater, opera house, etc., between the musicians' area and the parterre or, esp. in the U.S., the entire main-floor space for spectators. VT: 3. to construct (a floor) of parquetry.

Okaaaaaaayyyyyyyy...my first found poem is all about flooring! Whoo!

Here we go...it's my first attempt and not very good. I'm going to need practice!

From high above courtside,
I watch the men in green and white
Skip over the criss-cross pattern of the wooden floor.

But is it all really genuine blocks of wood,
Or are there other substances forming its short strips?

Yeah...I know it sucked. I need practice.

More attempts to come. They're not all gonna be good...but then again, even the best authors have received criticism for their works!

And now...haiku time

It's snowing again!
Lots of flakes and ice and cold
Hate...being...SNOWBOUND!!!

And now...haiku time

Snow's coming again
Lots of flakes floating around
Winter really sucks.

"Driving On Roads On A Rainy Evening"

This poem was inspired by my drive home tonight from my school's winter concert. Route 9 in Connecticut, the highway I took to go home, bisects the center of the state and runs parallel to the Connecticut River. There is no lighting on the side of the highway until you cross over the Middletown city line. The drive home was complicated by a moderate to heavy rainstorm, and lots of wind.

My apologies to Robert Frost.

"Driving On Roads On A Rainy Evening"
by Kitten, December 11, 2008

Whose roads these are I think I know.
My house is in the city though;
I hope I won't be stopping here
Since I am driving nice and slow.
My little car must think it queer
To stop without a station near
Between my house and rain-filled path
The darkest evening of the year.
My car's small black wheels get a bath
As she continues through this wrath
The only other sound's the splash
Of puddles forming on the path.
Off back to my house I must dash,
I cannot blink a single lash,
Or in the woods my car will crash,
Or in the woods my car will crash.