Friday, March 1, 2019

Poetry Friday: Mask Poems (or How to Hide Behind Everyday Objects)

The challenge this month (courtesy of Laura Purdie Salas) was to compose a mask poem from the point of view of an everyday object. After briefly reading about mask poems, and discovering they have almost no rules (yay!) I chose to be inspired by an everyday book I keep on my desk.  






Thesaurus

I’m an open book,
an orderly muse;
I’m easy to dip into 
rifle  peruse


Need style? I’ve got
svelte   hip   rad
Lack range? Go ahead: 
roam  wander  gad 

Need an RSVP? Choose
overwhelmed  busy  engaged
Feeling mad? Upgrade to
furious  irate  enraged

Am I rich? Hardly.
Not a bit; in a word: no.
But if you're at a loss,
I’m overflowing with bon mot

I’m a depository, a nest egg,
A dragon’s lair of words;
A treasure house for all:
seekers writers nerds.

---Sara Lewis Holmes (all rights reserved)



Afterword:

I was reminded of the richness of my thesaurus not only because it's on my desk in easy view, but because I recently discovered a delightful picture book biography of Dr. Peter Roget. From it, I learned that Thesaurus means "treasure house" in Greek.  Find it if you can.


The Right Word
 by Jen  Bryant,
 illustrated by Melissa Sweet



My poetry sisters have written an amazing array of mask poems.  You may find them here:

Rebecca (welcome!)
Liz
Laura
Tricia
Tanita


Poetry Friday is hosted today by TeacherDance

7 comments:

  1. LOVE this poem and my trusty thesaurus! :)

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  2. Jen and Melissa's book is a masterpiece! Sara, I love your poem, especially that final stanza. And I snickered at " Feeling mad? Upgrade to / furious irate enraged" Fabulous! (remarkable extraordinary outstanding!)

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  3. Oh! I hadn't realized it was a picture book. That is even better! I like how you used to thesaurus as a mask.

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  4. Yes, Jen Bryant's & Melissa Sweet's book is marvelous, Sara. I'm glad you found it! And love seeing what "Thesaurus" has to say. It's hard to choose a favorite verse, yet the "Am I rich" is rich indeed.

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  5. Sara, choosing a thesaurus to write about is a good move. It’s one of my favorite writing tools. A treasure house for all:
    seekers writers nerds.
    It is for sure my treasure house!

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  6. Love the thesaurus mask poem. Quite a rich treasure!

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  7. Love it! I tend to use my Merriam-Webster app or the dictionary on my computer to get my synonyms or hone my word choice, but I definitely don't like to write without one!

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