April #InkRipples #Giveaway - Poetry


Dog Days

A dark, dreary sky
in the midst of July,
the thunder rumbled and grumbled.

Little Lyle Lender,
while on a juice bender,
erratically bumbled and stumbled.

He ran down the hall
with a crayon to the wall,
a dog shadowing his master.

Lyle tripped on a toy
and the maniacal boy
sailed headfirst through the plaster.

His ears were ringing,
phantom birds were singing.
Lyle shook off the dust and rushed

upstairs to his room
Little Lyle did zoom
He grabbed the paint and a brush.

With the exclamation,
“I always wanted a Dalmatian!”
He advanced on the dog with a sneer.

Mom stepped through the door
to take care of a chore
and squeaked out a cry of fear.

“Lyle, don’t you dare…drip paint on the chair!

 ***
Poetry.

Yeah - as evidenced above - I don't really write it. But I can have fun with it nonetheless. Plus, I must admit...I don't really like it! Gasp!!! But April is National Poetry Month and our #InkRipples topic this month. 

Though is isn't my favorite form of writing, I have read some novels in verse that I've enjoyed. And I want to share one with one lucky reader! I'll give away a Kindle edition of one of the following to a randomly chosen winner:

I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder

Girl meets boy.

Girl loses boy.

Girl gets boy back...

...sort of.
 

Ava can't see him or touch him, unless she's dreaming. She can't hear his voice, except for the faint whispers in her mind. Most would think she's crazy, but she knows he's here. 

Jackson. The boy Ava thought she'd spend the rest of her life with. He's back from the dead, as proof that love truly knows no bounds.

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. But on a trip to visit her absentee father, Kristina disappears and Bree takes her place. Bree is the exact opposite of Kristina -- she's fearless. 
Through a boy, Bree meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild, ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul -- her life.

Elevated by Elana Johnson

The last person seventeen-year-old Eleanor Livingston wants to see on the elevator—let alone get stuck with—is her ex-boyfriend Travis, the guy she's been avoiding for five months. 

Plagued with the belief that when she speaks the truth, bad things happen, Elly hasn’t told Trav anything. Not why she broke up with him and cut off all contact. Not what happened the day her father returned from his deployment to Afghanistan. And certainly not that she misses him and still thinks about him everyday. 

But with nowhere to hide and Travis so close it hurts, Elly’s worried she won’t be able to contain her secrets for long. She’s terrified of finally revealing the truth, because she can’t bear to watch a tragedy befall the boy she still loves. 

Enter as many times as you can between now and 11:59 pm on Sunday, April 17th. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ink Ripples is a themed meme hosted by Mary Waibel, Katie L. Carroll, and Kai Strand posting on the firt Monday of every month. To participate compose your own post regarding the theme of the month, and link back to the three host blogs. Feel free to post whenever you want during the month, but be sure to include #inkripples when you promote so readers can find you. The idea is that we toss a word or idea into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There is no wrong interpretation. Themes and images and more information can be found here.

Comments

  1. Fun poem, Kai! I think it's fun just to play around with poetry, regardless of the results. For me it's about the process and enjoying messing around with language.

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    Replies
    1. That's exactly what I do. I do feel it's important that people understand I don't take my poetry seriously - and neither should they ;)

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  2. Poetry must always be fun and playing with it is exactly what you must do. Stop by and see my post 4/8. Hope you think I'm playing enough.

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    Replies
    1. I think poetry is also a great outlet for sad feelings, such as grief or angst. I wrote a lot of angsty poetry in my middle grade years. Can't wait to read your post tomorrow!

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  3. I think I would get I Heart You, I Haunt You. I have read Crank (chilling, but in an entirely different way from IHYIHY!) and some others by Ellen Hopkins. They pack a lot of punch with a lot of white space -- good for reluctant readers, but strong content.

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    Replies
    1. Very strong content. The combination of verse and the dire subject is so impactful. I Heart You is good to. I'm always skeptical when I open a novel in verse, but when an author does it well, you don't even realize you're reading in a metered beat.

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