Every month, Michelle H. Barnes posts an interview with a poet. Then a Ditty Challenge is given. This month’s challenge comes from Helen Frost.
Choose an object (a seashell, a hairbrush, a bird nest, a rolling pin). It should not be anything symbolic (such as a doll, a wedding ring, or a flag). Write five lines about the object, using a different sense in each line (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell). Then ask the object a question, listen for its answer, and write the question, the answer, or both.
I opened the freezer for a Thin Mint cookie, and thus an ode appeared.
Green-vested Girl Scouts
line boxes on a table outside Walgreens.
Crinkling wax paper opens
to a circle of mouth-watering chocolate.
Mint permeates my senses.
Why are you hiding in this box?
Come on out for my delight,
a refreshing bite.
–Margaret Simon
Love this format, Margaret! And love your sensory descriptions, especially the image of those green-vested girls!
I love it too! and I love the cookies too, hahaha!
My favorite, too- “refreshing bite” is a great description!
Oh, those thin mints are tasty! I have a box in my freezer now! I love the “why are you hiding?”
What a yummy ode, Margaret! Wouldn’t you know, now I just had to go to my freezer for a Thin Mint or two to go with my mid-morning tea! (Luckily there were still a few left.) Oh, the lengths we go to in the name of poetic research. 😉
So you make me want to go get a box of thin mints. I think my favorite line is the crinkling wax paper–I can hear it!
Love the idea for this Ditty. and your poem is great. There is poetry everywhere – even cookies!
Wow! This is sweet and such a fun format! I’m adding it to my blog ideas – thanks!
bwa ha ha ha ha…..do you know how MANY moms I know that hide a box or more just for themselves? Too funny. The parking lot of Walgreens is as good a place as any to have a box of thin mints to yourself. Great ode.
How I miss the “refreshing bite” of these cookies and having “mint permeate my senses.” After reading your poem I can almost taste their deliciousness!
Love the idea and what you did with it!