Out of the Mouths of Babes...Honest Poetry?

I enjoy writing poetry. The rhythm and the flow remind me of a musical piece. It's always a challenge to put your thoughts and ideas into a visual palette of words. There are always new and innovative ways to put them together. Some of the best poetry I've read have made me pause and think, "Hey, I've never thought of it that way!"

My first attempts at poetry were hardly dignified. When I was in the fourth grade, the local Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop ran a poetry contest for Mother's Day. Each line had to start with the first letter of the word "Mother". First line with an "M" and so forth. (Mnemonic poetry, I think it what they call it). The first place prize was an ice-cream cake for mom.

I worked on the entry and sent it in before the deadline. For the life of me, I can't remember most of what I wrote. The only thing I can remember was what I'd written for the letter "H". It was as follows:

"H: Her temper is like a volcano."


That got the judge's attention. Hey, I was all of eight years old at the time,and it was true. Mom was somewhat embarrassed at that moment. Isn't there a quote that says something like, "Writing tells us what we don't like to see?" This was a living example. And as someone else commented to me, "Out of the mouths of babes..."

I did place in the top three and presented my mom with an ice cream cake for Mother's Day. Mom later had a good chuckle out of it and dryly commented that if I was going to use her as an example, to at least let her know first.

A poet had been born...and she still tries to put her thoughts and tell her truth into colorful words.



All original writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010