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Thursday, April 4, 2013

A Chanty and a Spaceship Title: NaPoWriMo 3 and 4, 2012

Day Three's challenge was to write a sort of sea-chanty.  Minnesota's pretty far inland, so I will write one closer to home, like a memory of our daughter as a child, shadowing me in the kitchen, to the tune of "What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor?":

How shall we make a tasty cookie,
how shall we make a tasty cookie,
how shall we make a tasty cookie,
oh how I love cook-ies!.

Flour, sugar, egg and butter,
flour, sugar, egg and butter,
flour, sugar egg and butter,
oh how I love cook-ies!

Don't forget the chocolate chips,
don't forget the chocolate chips,
don't forget the chocolate chips,
oh how I love cook-ies!.

Bake 'em, cool 'em, then we'll eat them,
Bake 'em, cool 'em, then we'll eat them,
Bake 'em, cool'em, then wel'll eat them,
oh how I love cook-ies.

When can we bake some more, Mommy,
when can we bake some more, Mommy,
when can we back some more, Mommy,
oh, how I love cook-ies!
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Day Four's challenge is to choose and write something that goes along with a title chosen from the NaPoWriMo site's list of wacky names that have been given to spaceships (Who knew?!)  I just chose one at random, and I have a feeling that the result is going to be a prose poem, maybe even a rant. Here goes:  (p.s. Kind reader, help me out here, with a few fill-in-the-blanks...I know there are plenty of examples, but the memory refuses to go there today...).  My chosen spaceship title is 'Ambient Morality.'

Just Another Victim of the Ambient Morality
a rant in so many words
Amazed and  pleased as I am to watch our children grow into their own personhood, I'm perplexed at how awkward it has become to be present in the same world...a world where clingy pants which last year were only the lower, almost undergarment, part of an ethnic dress are now fashionable school clothing, parental codes for hours and viewing matter are blithely ignored, perfectly innocent words like gay, pussy, and finger acquire narrow, specific and loaded meanings, funny toss-off's like 'groupie' and 'sucker' become terms my kids are embarassed to hear me utter, and nobody's at the table for family dinner anyway.  Grade school children play games like "Kiss and Kill," most everybody watches glorified violence as entertainment, and communication is a drag unless it can be conveyed in a few letters or syllables. "You can't say that, Mom!" becomes as common as "I love you,"  talking while doing dishes is no longer a bonafide bonding activity, and I find myself expressing disappointment in terms that, a few years ago, I was horrified to hear from their mouths. Oh shit, I guess I'm just another victim of the ambient morality!

3 comments:

  1. You really did write an excellent Sea-Shanty, a shame we are without the sea (mine with appear on Saturday)....and a little tyrade is good for the soul...success, you did that well too! It's funny how such odd prompts can start a poem. Hope to see you on Friday night! : )
    Lynn

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  2. I really enjoy that Chanty. But I can't sing about bake'em cool'em. I keep singing "bacon cooling"

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  3. Thanks, Dale and Lynn, Glad you liked it...I can still see that little gal standing on a stool beside me, chatting it up as she rolled cookie dough between her palms!

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