Friday, March 16, 2012

"decaffeinated" vs. "knack"

Game on!  In Ed DeCaria's March Madness Poetry Tournament I am pitted in the first round against the delightful and skilled Laura Purdie Salas.  My randomly assigned word was "decaffeinated," a 14th seed word classed as possibly impossible, but I'm pretty pleased with what I managed. Prepare to enter the dusky world of the nightwalkers....


YA Vampire Novella
by Heidi Mordhorst

Bec LeCru rose at sundown as normal.
He dressed in black, as usual—formal.
He stopped at the all-night Starbucks for coffee.
He ordered espresso with two shots of toffee.
The barista’s mistake: serving decaffeinated.
Bec fell asleep with his face on the table;
Dawn found him dead, sadly decoffinated.


Laura's word was "knack," seeded 3, and she did a wonderful, timely, hopeful thing with it!

Natural Talent
by Laura Salas

Sky has a knack for
pounding out rain
Ground has a knack for
receiving

Spring has a knack for
bursting out blooms
Seed has a knack for
believing

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What a challenge is faced by all 64 participants, and what fun it is to see what folks are coming up with! To vote for your favorites, start here http://www.thinkkidthink.com/3-knack-vs-14-decaffeinated
and then spend some of your Poetry Friday bopping around Think Kid, Think! to see more!

Greg at GottaBook is hosting today. Go poets!

9 comments:

  1. Heidi, your poem is so clever and funny. "Decoffinated" should be added to the dictionary.

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  2. Lovely poems, Heidi! It does sound like such a fun tournament! Best of luck to everyone! Enjoy!

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  3. Ed gives out hard words! You both really made the best of them.

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  4. Yours was a great match-up. Two terrific poems. The tournie has been great fun, hasn't it?

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  5. You both kicked butt with your words, making yours one of the matchups where I couldn't figure out what to do. No matter the result, I must say that decoffinated is simply glee-inducing!

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  6. My husband and I giggled this morning as we were reading your poem and got to 'decoffinated'!

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  7. Decoffinated - just love that word!

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  8. LOVELOVELOVE "decoffinated." Still makes me smile! Probably one of the most memorable poems of the first round!!

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  9. Jordan's poem is winner in my estimation, even if it isn't in a competition. I love it!

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Thanks for joining in the wild rumpus!