Wednesday, March 11, 2015

forward...smooCH!

In case you're just joining us, I and several intrepid poets (including you!) are writing 20 new poems this month in the Forward...MarCH Poetry CHallenge.  I've selected 20 verbs ending in -CH (the list is here) and today's word is "smooCH".  I guess I was in the mood for birthday kisses....

This one is a double challenge--it's crossposted over at the Monday Poetry Stretch with  Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect, where the CHarge is to write an ottava rima.


Birthday Ottava Rima

The day approaches like a kiss,
a smooch from the universe.
"Welcome, honeybunch! Follow your bliss!
Look what’s in your purse:
shiny swatch of that and this,
Book of Blessing, chapter and verse,
pebble and penny and pocketwatch
for hours of wishes and hopscotch.“

The day begins each year like a kiss,
a smooch from the universe.
“Forward, honeybunch! Follow your bliss!
There's nothing to do but immerse
yourself in this life.  Nothing's amiss--
or at least it could always be worse."
Bewitched by blessing, I follow a hunch:
I invite the whole world over for lunch.

HM 2015
all rights reserved

Who's smooching who today?   Leave your poem in the comments or send me an email.

*****************************************

Donna sends us a kiss-shaped diamante today:


Smooch

Soft, tender,
Healing, soothing, loving
Good-morning, all better, good-bye, I love you, good-night
Teasing, chuckling, tickling
Loud, whiskery
Grandpa’s smooch!

-- Donna JT Smith

Next up is Mary Lee, who surprises with this slime-borne kiss (ew cool):

SNAIL

My snail is mostly foot.
His mouth is really small.
So does he scale, or does he smooch
the glass of the fish tank wall?


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Charles's animal smooch is less slime and more slobber!

RECIPROCATION
When I smooch my pooch
She slobbers me back,
I love being smothered
In her puppy attack.


Hee hee hee--Besame Smoocho!

Besame (No) Smoocho

A kiss is a peck or a
passionate surrender.

A smooch is not a kiss--
a smooch is an event.

Onomatopoeia
as performance art.

--Diane Mayr

And from far-off Utah, Kate Coombs joins the CHallenge!  Here's her "smooCH" poem (haven't we all known a guy like this?).

That One Guy

He’s smooth with his smooch
but not with his lines.
If he’d just keep quiet
he’d do fine.
First the ladies smile
and then they frown.
If he’d play silent film star
he’d win hands down.

—Kate Coombs

Carol is also joining the smoochfest with this one--it's so romantic!


Snowman Smooch

My snowman looked so forlorn.
He needed a mate to weather the storm.
I asked the children down the street
to find a partner for him to meet.
They molded and sculpted a beautiful one.
She came alive in the morning sun.
Then, her heart quickly melted away
as Snowman gave her a smooch that day.

--Carol Varsalona

Joy bring us a tiny mousie smooch:

I have a little mouse.
Kissie is his name.
He eeks and squeaks
and makes smooching sounds
whenever he sees a dame.

And now, in catching-up tour-de-force, Kate uses 7 of the words so far (plus 7 extras) in a poem as big as the 

Universe

The universe preaches, it’s giving us speeches
in words launching morning, like day moon, tree waking,
night going, clouds lighting, sky bluing, dawn breaking.
The universe stretches, it marches along,
sketching in daisies and wind and birdsong.
The universe twitches, it sews and unstitches,
with frog croaks and brushstrokes of reeds it unhitches,
with bug crawls and seedfalls and splashes in ditches.
It reads us the planets and points out the ants,
it watches the branches and fusses with plants.
Sky bleaching, sea reaching, the universe talks—
I listen to each of its beetles and hawks,
its message of bright and high hopes as I walk.

—Kate Coombs 


What a show-off, and I mean that in the best possible way.  Like in a Gerard Manley Hopkins way.  Golly.

I want to thank all of the participants so far for giving me this fabulous birthday gift--the Gift of Poetry!

11 comments:

  1. Here's my smooch diamante:

    Smooch

    Mama’s kiss
    Soft, tender,
    Healing, soothing, loving
    Good-morning, all better, good-bye, I love you, good-night
    Teasing, chuckling, tickling
    Loud, whiskery
    Grandpa’s smooch!

    ©Donna JT Smith

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ummm. Only centered...formatting doesn't hold!

      Delete
  2. Is today your birthday? The one and only actual day that inspired this FUN FUN FUN CHallenge? Happy Happy!

    Here's my snail with his smooch:

    http://www.maryleehahn.com/2015/03/snail.html

    SNAIL

    My snail is mostly foot.
    His mouth is really small.
    So does he scale, or does he smooch
    the glass of the fish tank wall?


    ©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy Birthday, Heidi!


    Besame (No) Smoocho

    A kiss is a peck or a
    passionate surrender.

    A smooch is not a kiss--
    a smooch is an event.

    Onomatopoeia
    as performance art.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, this is fun! Here's today's--and then I'll do some catch-up poems if you don't mind.

    That One Guy

    He’s smooth with his smooch
    but not with his lines.
    If he’d just keep quiet
    he’d do fine.
    First the ladies smile
    and then they frown.
    If he’d play silent film star
    he’d win hands down.

    —Kate Coombs

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy Birthday, Heidi! I decided to do this all in one fell swoop (with two bonus -ch words, yay!):

    Universe

    The universe preaches, it’s giving us speeches
    in words launching morning, like day moon, tree waking,
    night going, clouds lighting, sky bluing, dawn breaking.
    The universe stretches, it marches along,
    sketching in daisies and wind and birdsong.
    The universe twitches, it sews and unstitches,
    with frog croaks and brushstrokes of reeds it unhitches,
    with bug crawls and seedfalls and splashes in ditches.
    It reads us the planets and points out the ants,
    it watches the branches and fusses with plants.
    Sky bleaching, sea reaching, the universe talks—
    I listen to each of its beetles and hawks,
    its message of bright and high hopes as I walk.

    —Kate Coombs

    ReplyDelete
  6. Heidi, a very happy birthday wish to you at the end of your day. While I tried to think of a way to craft a poem about the word smooch, my winter theme crept in. Amidst my musings of the day in my blog post, I inserted this poem:

    Snowman Smooch

    My snowman looked so forlorn.
    He needed a mate to weather the storm.
    I asked the children down the street
    to find a partner for him to meet.
    They molded and sculpted a beautiful one.
    She came alive in the morning sun.
    Then, her heart quickly melted away
    as Snowman gave her a smooch that day.

    http://beyondliteracylink.blogspot.com/2015/03/when-my-writing-space-needs-intervention.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. RECIPROCATION
    When I smooch my pooch
    She slobbers me back,
    I love being smothered
    In her puppy attack.

    (c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.

    ReplyDelete
  8. RECIPROCATION
    When I smooch my pooch
    She slobbers me back,
    I love being smothered
    In her puppy attack.

    (c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks, Heidi! Hope you had a very happy birthday. Looking forward to tomorrow's -ch word. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have a little mouse.
    Kissie is his name.
    He eeks and squeaks
    and makes smooching sounds
    whenever he sees a dame.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for joining in the wild rumpus!