Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Marcie, HERE. Thank you for hosting. It’s been a pleasant summer this year and I want to be outside as much as possible to attend concerts, visit a local Fingerlakes winery or two, visit state parks and read on my porch. Summer in New York is too short!!
My heart goes out to those impacted by flooding and fires across the country, driving more and more discussion and action on climate change.
I spent some time this week thinking about Linda Mitchell’s clunkers. She provided quite a list, some more impossible than others.
I decided to simply have fun with one of them, one that made me think about how each word in a sentence changes it, sometimes dramatically.
THE LAST WORD We don’t (Don’t what?) We don’t want (Want what?) We don’t want you (Oh . . . I see) We don’t want you to worry. (Oooh. That will teach me to jump to conclusions) ©Janice Scully 2022
The clunker was: “We don’t want you to worry,”if you haven’t guessed. And it seems relevant as there is a lot of worry in our lives. So, how lovely to imagine a sincere “We don’t want you to worry,” rather than other imagined possible sentence endings.
Though I don’t do much gardening, I do have coneflowers and daisies coming up along the side of my house. They are beautiful this year. I also saw a monarch butterfly fluttering around the flowers, though it didn’t make it into the photo.
Thank you, Marcie, for hosting.
Oh, I like what you did with that prompt! That’s fun.
I love seeing these clunker poems! One poet’s clunker is another poet’s treasure! Just fabulous!
Aww… what a sweet clunker. And how wonderful that you don’t have to worry… you can enjoy your garden and a bit more of summer in NY!
There’s a gradual, quite gentle unfolding of the key-words of this poem, Janice. I like what you did, and I like what you’ve created here, with Linda’s word gift.
Janice, I am so glad that summer in Syracuse is one of ease. I understand about making the most of it. The sun has certainly added beautiful blossoms to your garden. As for your clunker poem, it is clever. Of course, I was wondering after the 6th line but you brought the ending to a very positive closure. Enjoy summer!
Wow! I love what you did with that clunker…I want to try that conversational format with someone else’s clunker. Do you have one to swap? I’ve love to take a crack at it.
Hi Linda. Here’s one for you:
Our cells are like a galaxy of stars.
Janice, I like how you played with our expectations! I wonder how it would work/what it would mean to use ONLY the growing phrases from the clunker…hmmm. I think I’ll try that technique too!