Tuesday, 25 May 2010

It's a Great Life on the Poetry Bus!

This weeks challenge:

1: Think of (or find) a sentence.

2: Delete the second half of it.

3: Think of as many different ways of finishing it was you can.

4: Now, delete the first part of the sentence, leaving only a collection of "second halves".

5: Play with these and concoct a poem out of them. You'll probably want to mess about with the grammar, leave bits out, put bits in, etc. Feel free.

6: Post the poem.

7: Leave me a link to the post in the comments section below, and I'll post a list of all the contributions I receive.

A tip (you may not need one if you've done this before). If you find you're getting nowhere, go back to square one and try a new half-sentence as a starting point. Some work better than others, of course.

Have fun!

And, finally, love it or hate it...

20 comments:

  1. Am off to try this idea - if it works for me then I will post the poem later in the week.

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  2. Gawd!I hate you,Butler, but I like this task. Now get these buses out of here!
    Best wishes,
    Blakey.

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  3. That programme was purgatory for me as a child. I can't remember who of the ones that were bigger than me liked it, but we had to watch it. Clippies! Clippies!! And Stan gave me the serious creeps. And Olive. And the brother-in-law. And it was all so brown indoors...

    Anyway, that's a novel approach Bill and plenty to confuse me with. I will do my best to comply and jump onboard.

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  4. My mother was a stripper & a tarot card reader.
    She took me to Faulkner’s house, near Oxford
    annually, but it was mystery and sin
    that owned me.
    The voices of tiny-headed men
    encouraged my poems and stories.
    My mother lived on lies,
    but I picked up
    the rhythms of Jubilate Agno by
    Chistopher Smart and sank off
    the town map,
    a reclusive poet & a
    cat-owning, cat-poetry
    reciting madman.

    (By Marion. That was fun.)

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  5. Wow what a bus ride this is going to be!

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  7. Dear "On The Buses"; Bill: (do you know I use to watch religiously OTB in the 70's? Your idear sounds kinda kranky...a bit o' the nasty what with tweaking o' words and the whole lot ball o' wax, eh? I'm game!

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  8. Cool prompt - thanks for setting it. Will tackle this at the weekend and post then.

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  9. Hmm. Wow. This is clever and strange too. I shall be back, toting half-sentences with me.

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  10. Oops - forgot the link! http://danabugseyeview.blogspot.com/2010/05/love-is-on-bus.html

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  11. Love this challenge, very well thought out.
    I may still fiddle with my contribution between now and Monday but I wanted to get it up since I have missed the last two buses (had visitors and then went visiting)
    http://crazyfieldmouse.wordpress.com/2010/05/28/what-is-the-what/
    nice to see so many people on board now.
    much love
    crazy field mouse

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  12. Here, in our house in the suburbs in Ontario, Canada, we used to have "On The Buses" whenever we could. My dad would go around saying, "On the BUSes!" in his best cockney accent (he was an Irishman) and he would crack himself up. Depending on who was around at the time (i.e. family or friends), I would either laugh along, or cringe with embarrassment. Now I miss those days. Thanks for the reminder of good times. Blakie was a hoot!

    Will be sure and do this poem; it sounds like great fun.

    Kat

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  13. By the way, we only had an instrumental intro over here.

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  14. London Is Calling and so is Bill Bonkers!!! So go check out my poem, eh?!

    http://logb-chiccoreal.blogspot.com/2010/05/bill-bonkers-takin-us-up-river-on-da.html

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  16. I have done my best. I have posted a poem on my blog:
    http://www.picsandpoems.blogspot.com

    Thanks for a great prompt. Struggled to do it justice.

    Apologies for the error.

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  17. Have posted my entry for the bus this morning - have tried to link but failed miserably (do need your help to learn how to do it before next week when it is my stint on the bus!)
    However - my entry is at http://www.weaverofgrass.blogspot.com

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  18. Doh I gave you the wrong link Bill here it is!

    http://returninghomeinsilkenrobes.blogspot.com/2010/05/poetry-bus-challenge-attempt-nos-2.html

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  19. Great prompt, Mr. Bill!!!!

    Jet-lagged Jeanne has just posted here:

    http://www.revolutionaryrevelry.blogspot.com

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