I’m a wordy bird! Are you?<\/p>\n
Quite often we use too many words to get our point across. We\u2019re going to do some math today and take away 25% of the words used in a poem. But don\u2019t worry\u2026it will be simple. Just do one step at a time!<\/p>\n
Take Away!<\/strong> Abracadabra! A poem becomes sharper, stronger, more interesting without so many words. . . And the best part is, if you don’t like the way the poem sounds without the words, you can always put them back. Bippity-boppity-boop!<\/p>\n If the thought of removing 25% of your words scares you, check out this example of how my poem changed when I slashed it by 25%:<\/p>\n Here’s the Poem I started with entitled 2\/24:<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t watch the news. It has 50 words. Divide that by 4 and round up should be about 13. Subtract 13 from 50 and you get 37. 2\/24 The 37 word version:<\/p>\n \u201cCan\u2019t watch the news. This second version feels stronger, doesn’t it? But I didn’t stop there. “Can I cut another 25%?” I asked. 37 words, divided by 4 and rounded up to get 10. Subtracted 10 from 37 to get 27. 2\/24 The 27 word version:<\/p>\n \u201cCan\u2019t watch WHOA! What a difference! Now you try it!<\/p>\n Set the timer for 7 minutes.<\/strong> *Kelly Bennett <\/a>and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 700 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole dang poem. Scroll down and click on the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m a wordy bird! Are you? Quite often we use too many words to get our point across. We\u2019re going to do some math today and take away 25% of the words used in a poem. But don\u2019t worry\u2026it will be simple. Just do one step at a time! Take Away! Pick one of your … Continue reading “Poetry Challenge #26”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1170,"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779\/revisions\/1170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cindyfaughnan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPick one of your poems. Count the words in the poem. Divide that number by 4 (round up if it\u2019s not even). Take away (delete!) that many words. Reread your poem aloud. How does it sound?<\/p>\n
\nI see those teens
\nso earnest, so determined,
\nso hurt,
\nand imagine the pain
\nand grief
\nof their lives.
\nThere can\u2019t be peace
\non earth while
\nlobbyist make fun
\nof \u201cwhite mothers grieving\u201d
\nEvery word is loaded
\nand shot
\nwith no regard
\nfor stolen innocence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n50-13=37<\/p>\n
\nSee those teens
\nso determined.
\nCan\u2019t imagine the grief
\nof their lives.
\nCan\u2019t be peace
\nwhile lobbyists
\nmake fun of
\n\u201cwhite mothers grieving\u201d.
\nWords loaded
\nand shot
\nwith no regard
\nfor stolen innocence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n37-10=27<\/p>\n
\nthose determined teens.
\nCan\u2019t imagine the grief.
\nCan\u2019t be peace
\nwhile lobbyists
\nridicule
\n\u201cwhite mothers grieving\u201d.
\nWords loaded
\nand shot.
\nNo regard
\nfor stolen innocence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n Select a poem to revise.<\/strong>
\n Do The Math!<\/strong>
\n Take Away 25%<\/strong><\/p>\n