Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.2


Wikimedia Commons Featured Picture by Lilly_M
Another section to explore on Wikimedia Commons is the featured pictures. I found this fire-breather in the category "People."

Here's what I jotted in my writer's notebook throughout the day as I thought about this image:

bad breath
anger (teacher?)
dragon
transformation
(I like the almost-rhyme of dragon/transformation)
circus act
remember to breathe OUT!
what's the story abt the diamonds vs. frogs and toads out of one's mouth?
fairy tale? superpower?


And here's the beginning of a draft of a poem inspired by the fire-breather:


FAIRY TALE MIX-UP

Shouldn't the dragon
have gotten the fire?
The sword to the prince
and for me, the lyre?

I fear for the princess
'cause I've seen the witch
____________________
________________ switch.

DRAFT © Mary Lee Hahn, 2013


If you have a minute, go back to yesterday's post and check out the TWO poems Carol Wilcox wrote! Cathy Mere left a quickie in the comments that I moved up into the post, too.

If you make a fire-breather creation, let me know and I'll include it in today's post!

From Kevin at Kevin's Meandering Mind:

Breathing fire
as thoughts
as imagination runs amok
inside my mind
even as the outside calm exterior of my eyes
permeates what others think they know of me
while inside,
something else altogether begins to spark
unseen.

© Kevin Hodgson, 2013


From Linda at TeacherDance:

I'm sorry to have responded
so heatedly to your game.
I never meant to sear you
with my blast of words aflame.

© Linda Baie, 2013


From Carol at Carol's Corner:


"Rage"

The flame
that smolders
deep within
sparks
then blazes

Your words
red-hot irons
that singe
char
incinerate
my heart

And I wonder

Does 
the rage
that burns within
scorch your soul
like it does mine?

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2013


Katie (Archaeofrog Photography) wrote a book spine poem inspired by this image:

Knights of the kitchen table,
How to train your dragon:
Out of darkness ...
The fire within =
Holes
Out of the dust &
The City of Ember.
Absolutely Normal Chaos.
Dragons don't cook pizza.





The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project is 


"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations."


Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

You are invited to join the fun, too! Leave a link to your creation in the comments and I'll add it to that day's post. I'll add pictures of my students' work throughout the month as well.

11 comments:

  1. Breathing fire
    as thoughts
    as imagination runs amok
    inside my mind
    even as the outside calm exterior of my eyes
    permeates what others think they know of me
    while inside,
    something else altogether begins to spark
    unseen.

    --Kevin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "something else altogether begins to spark" --- interesting.

      Delete
  2. I like the opening of your poem, & that end, something about saving her by changing places-what 'switch' made me think of.

    I'm sorry to have responded
    so heatedly to your game.
    I never meant to sear you
    with my blast of words aflame.

    Great inspiration, Mary Lee

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am now worried for that princess, and will have to check in to see how she fares.....

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mary Lee,
    I'm wishing I just would have made my plan for this month to write about the wikimedia you choose. I'm finding your idea intriguing. I am enjoying seeing your process, word choice, and watching the poem take shape.

    I enjoyed your play between dragon and fire breathing. I also found your tip "remember to breathe OUT" quite important.

    I may be back with a poem. This one has been on my mind all day, but I haven't found the words quite yet.

    Cathy

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mary Lee,
    This was a hard one. Played with it this morning, then had to get ready to facilitate grade level meetings. Came back tonight. I'm using it on my blog as my Slice of Life (because I am not an all star writing goddess and I cannot keep up with all this poem writing and slicing too!)

    "Rage"

    The flame
    that smolders
    deep within
    sparks
    then blazes

    Your words
    red-hot irons
    that singe
    char
    incinerate
    my heart

    And I wonder

    Does
    the rage
    that burns within
    scorch your soul
    like it does mine?

    (c) Carol Wilcox, 2013

    ReplyDelete
  6. Whoops! Really meant to respond to your poem first. Sorry! It amazes me how many different voices/styles, you can assume. That is definitely not easy! Can't wait to see how Fairy Tale Mixup turns out!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Carol, Linda, Kevin -- Thanks so much for playing along! i love seeing your creations, but more than anything, I love showing my students creativity exemplified. I can't wait to see if some of THEM will take up the challenge, too!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I made a found book (book spine) poem inspired by your shot, but it ended up being more about dragons than fire breathers, as I just couldn't get the right title to make the link.

    Image is here: http://365project.org/archaeofrog/extras/2013-04-02

    Knights of the kitchen table,
    How to train your dragon:
    Out of darkness ...
    The fire within =
    Holes
    Out of the dust &
    The City of Ember.
    Absolutely Normal Chaos.
    Dragons don't cook pizza.

    I've also written a post about Found Book Poetry at my blog, http://www.archaeofrog.com/2013/04/photography-inspiration-found-book.html . I got the idea originally from you two years ago!

    ReplyDelete

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