Tomorrow is Pearl’s 100th day of school, a big holiday in Kindergarten, I am realizing. She wrote a 100 word poem for the 100 Museum, and I’m going to do one too, although it won’t get to be in any museum. If you’d like join us–and I hope you will–please leave a link in the comment section. Ready? Write.
[photo by Leo Reynolds via flickr]
To review the Big Window archives of writing exercises, click here.
The Big Bite
Yesterday you and I laughed
We explored animals
We like mutts
They cuddle, growl, kiss, smell, fetch, eat
growl, protect, whine, and bark
They chase balls and sniff bones outside
The girl thinks puppies see grass as toys
I say: pups smile beautifully
Then I will talk and nuzzle with my dog Buddy
I am ghostly
We eat food and haunt the yard like magic
Mom says soon
our sister will dance and the wild breeze flies in everything
Let me discover my joy happily
My sleep is deep as a cat’s breathing
Stars sailing in sky
100 words by Pearl Reagler
I am quite impressed with Miss Pearl. I like “the girl thinks puppies see grass as toys.” It’s rather clever and it has nice “s” sounds.
Okay, here’s the poem I wrote last night:
Knit Two Together
My imaginary mother had nothing to say
but I could knit one, pearl two
through most of my problems,
dreaming of tomorrow’s blanket.
Aunt Lois was scolding me
for dropping stitches
so I told her through the rhythm of my clicks,
“I fear the feet that walk behind me.”
I never understood the point of yarning over.
“Then learn to knit with wool,” she said.
So I slip, slip then knit two together
contemplating the worth of socks,
when she suddenly drops a pair in my lap.
I stare down,
unsure what to do with the present.
Cowering in a corner of my apartment
in fear of a four pound Shih Tzu.
No bite! No bite!
Everyone said puppies are lots of work.
Who listens to everybody?
I like the wild souls walking the streets,
talking, talking
and not on cell phones.
They have the message, in code,
their minds like puppies,
bouncing and bounding, eager
to chew on whatever passes.
No bite! No bite!
The things a puppy wants
cannot be faulted
on the streets or in my home.
Please! No bite!
Everybody said the puppy would
be a big job,
meanwhile my husband wants me to get a job.
Who wants a job?
Besides everybody.
Pearl! Thanks for the inspiration vacation. (Still cowering though.)