THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY

THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY
April 12, 2016

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

2015 Sound Poem Project Days 9 and 10: Bubbling Cauldron and Fireworks

I’m back in the Old Line State. After several days in Albuquerque, I can see why people from the Southwest find our canopy of trees here a bit claustrophobic. Look at the view.

The sun rising over Albuquerque.

Hiking in the Sandias.

A toast to you! Jen and I enjoying
traditional Mexican hot chocolate.
Today is Day 10 of Author Amok's 2015 poem-a-day project.

We are spending February writing in response to sounds. I spent yesterday traveling, so I’m posting the Day 9 and Day 10 responses tonight.

For a full description of the project and how to participate, please read this post. I hope you'll join us. I'll continue posting poems from Days 9 and 10 as they come in (including my own – I’m a few days behind!)

Our Day 9 prompt was a bubbling cauldron.

Diane Mayr surprised herself by writing in rhyme this time. Very spell-like, Diane.

Listen...
by Diane Mayr

What you're hearing as bubbles pop
are curses of worms that will not stop.

Dogs and newts incessantly shout,
"Damn you Hecate! Let us all out!"

Sea sharks masticate owlet wings.
Lizard legs kick and the pot just sings

With swears and oaths to rival a witch's
incantations and feverish pitches.

Bubble, bubble, entrails and venom
None involved here is going to heaven.

The details in that poem crack me up!

I like how Charles Waters uses cats, which are so often associated with witches, in this poem.

BUBBLE, BUBBLE TOIL AND TROUBLE
Bubbling Cauldrons
Sound like
Herds of cats
 Lapping up water
After an all-day fast.

(c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.

Here's our friend, poet and educator Renee LaTulippe performing the witches chant from The Scottish Play.


I came home with a bit of a cold, which inspired my late-entry cauldron poem.  You know how much I love parody poems. I couldn't help leaning on William Blake for this rhyme.

The Cauldron
By Laura Shovan
Cauldron cauldron, bubbling strong,
pop and tremble goes your song.
What ingredients should I brew
to rid me of this awful flu?
In go carrots, onions, peas,
turmeric so I won’t sneeze.
On the stove you sit and boil
while I measure olive oil.
Tear in spinach, baby kale
while I sip this ginger ale.
And when my fever starts to climb,
I might add some zest of lime.
Where’s the bay leaf? Where’s the meat?
Red pepper flakes to add some heat?
How about chicken? How about wine?
Is it almost time to dine?
When the virus, looking ‘round
said, “Aha! A host I’ve found.”
Did it know that chicken soup
cures everything from flu to croup?
Cauldron cauldron, bubbling strong,
pop and tremble goes your song.
What ingredients should I brew
to rid me of this awful flu?

If anyone else is under the weather this week, I am posting a recipe for my Flu Fighter Soup at the end of this post.

Welcome to Buffy Silverman, who is dropping in with a cauldron poem -- and a not-for-the-fair-of-heart soup recipe -- today.

In the Cauldron
by Buffy Silverman
 
Chop some onions, garlic, beans.
Add potatoes, carrots, greens.
Stir in basil, parsley, thyme.
Cut and squeeze one-quarter lime.
 
Let it bubble, boil, and breathe.
Taste a spoonful…What’s it need?
 
A pinch of stir-fried dragonflies?
A pair of coddled raven eyes?
Spider eggs? Roasted shrew?
Sip some now—it’s midnight stew!   

Our Day 10 prompt was fireworks.

Charles has two response poems for us. Leave a comment to let him know which one you prefer.
FIREWORKS
Sparkled rockets
Explode into streams
 Of lighted wonder.

(c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.

or 

PYROTECHNIC GLORY
Sparkled rockets
Explode into streams
 Of lighted wonder.
Illuminating our sky
in pyrotechnic glory.

(c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.

Diane Mayr sent her firework poem in with a note: “Although I do love firework productions, I've seen the other side...

Synchronized Fireworks in the Park
by Diane Mayr

Ooo...aah

Toddlers grimace
then bury their
faces in mothers'
shoulders.

Ooo...aah

Each new blast
matched
by the tremble
of an alley cat.

Ooo...aah

Lost dog
posters appear
on lamp posts
the next day.

I'm cheating a little by posting an old, never published, fireworks poem today. I've revised instead of writing something new.

Fourth of July
by Laura Shovan

We lie on a blanket
watching curls of light
bloom in the sky.
There are mechanics
to this spectacle,
chemicals
for those who care
to know how blue
explodes, then red
against the chalkboard
of night.

Neither can I name
why the zinnia
speaks to me
with its slow progress.
Petals arrive
from somewhere,
the green center,
pushing just-born
petals further
into this world.

I would like
to see something
of our child
in the zinnia’s
slow birth.
He arrived
like a firework,
metal smell
of blood
cutting the
chalky air.

Here are all of the sound prompts for the second week of February:

The Sound of Waves

A Bubbling Cauldron

Fireworks


If you'd like some poem-starters to wake up your muse, you'll find them at the bottom of this post. Drop in any time with a poem. I’ll continue to post your work throughout the month, no matter which sound you are writing in response to.

If you’d like to read what we’ve written so far, here are links to the week 1 poems:

Read Water Wheel Poems by Laura Shovan, Margaret Simon, Diane Mayr, Linda Baie, Patricia VanAmburg, and Charles Waters.

Read Angel Chimes Poems by Diane Mayr, Margaret Simon, Laura Shovan, Linda Baie, Patricia VanAmburg, and Charles Waters. 

Read Knife Sharpening Poems by Diane Mayr, Linda Baie, Margaret Simon, Laura Shovan, Charles Waters, and Patricia VanAmburg.

Read Thunderstorm Poems by Margaret Simon, Diane Mayr, Patricia VanAmburg, Laura Shovan, Linda Baie, and Charles Waters.

Read Ballet poems by Diane Mayr, Margaret Simon, Laura Shovan, Patricia VanAmburg, and Charles Waters.

Read Theremin Poems by Matt Forrest Esenwine, Charles Waters, Patricia VanAmburg, Margaret Simon, Diane Mayr, Laura Shovan, and Buffy Silverman.

Read Endangered Sounds poems by Patricia VanAmburg, Diane Mayr, Linda Baie, Margaret Simon, and Charles Waters.


7 comments:

Linda B said...

Sorry I didn't make it to the party, but loved all these again, Laura, Diane and Charles. Shakespeare has invaded our minds with bubbling I suppose!

Renee LaTulippe said...

Ooh, a bubbling cauldron is certainly an evocative sound. I wonder if Shakespeare listened to one as he wrote his three witches...? :)

Love Diane's imagery and the line "and the pot just sings." Poor little owlet!

Charles, I like the shorter version of your fireworks poem - a solid image.

Thank you, poets!

Margaret Simon said...

I tried to rhyme. I should know better. That is why my poem is not here. I didn't want to send it. I'll keep trying, though. I like the first of Charles' poems. The word pyrotechnic, while it is a very cool word, stumbled me up. Thanks for keeping us thinking and churning and listening.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the poems Diane, Charles and Laura. I did not like my cauldron either Margaret. But I love Shakespeare's rhymy curse--and Rennee's pretty witch. Also love Laura's blackboard of night. Patricia

KURIOUS KITTY said...

My cauldron was filled with Shakespeare's ingredients! It makes it that much easier to write when you can borrow liberally!

Charles: I, too, prefer the shorter of the two.

Author Amok said...

Thanks for playing along, everybody. I especially loved the cauldron poems. They were so much fun!

Charles Waters said...

Thanks, Renee! The shorter version it shall be!