Sitting somewhere and enjoying a proper cup of tea? Coffee? Well, whatever you have and wherever you are, we’re here, and just now, I’m here, Andrea speaking.
No New York here, no cafés, no places to hang out, no corner for me to sit building up audiences of casual guests looking at me and thinking that I am something special. But oh, I’d love it – sitting somewhere being special – I could drink lots of coffees, I’m sure, but as it is, I like to admit that I also drink tea.
I sit in my kitchen, looking straight into my microwave oven, that is if I look up, and cafés: there is the grocer’s which is DagliBrugsen where I live. And just now, it’s tea and you out there. How I love to be connected.
So here I sit in my quiet kitchen and see Ina got something published somewhere. My fellow blogger or to be honest, the head blogger here, made it through!
Ina writes about breast cancer and this wonderful medical development that makes it so true to use a metaphor with koi and a frog.
But I sit a little quiet, thinking about my friend, Neser, who didn’t make it. And thinking about Neser, I always end up laughing, though now it is so many years ago. I also know that she likely would have loved Ina’s poem.
I put in another lump of sugar in my tea. It’s cold outside – please see Sidse’s picture from today:
I feel so lucky that the internet is working today which means Amanda down in Brisbane can announce her recipes for me and for the citizens of Sejer Island.
Amanda, we’re ready. We can’t wait for the lamingtons because they look so good on the pictures. I hope I can squeeze in some more details here though I know that these details might not be in our books – only this blog kind of taught me that maybe they should.
But what is our blog post for today?
Ina and I are running a blog about writing. And we want to introduce a poetry challenge for you:
An Adult-Kid poeming month in January 2013.
- You must have an agreement with someone on writing 16 poems for January 2013. You, being the poet, and this other someone, a kid, must create a poem according to the prompts that Ina and I will put here on the blog during January.
- You must enter a name – “the rocking tigers” or something like it. You must come up with a name for your team and you must submit this to us along with a short description of who you are.
- And I’m sorry but the poems must be in English.
- Ina and I will be ready with awards.
The prompts will be about describing the world. So we’ll just say, for instance, “England.” Then you will have to come up with a poem about England and then we might say “Bulgaria” and so on.
So here with my Monday tea, I hope I have inspired you all to set off
for yet another challenge.
Please tell us what you think.
in our books 
Andrea, my friend Trisha died this year after a two year grueling battle with cancer. I hadn’t realized it, but I guess that’s what inspired this poem (as well as several others I’ve written this year). Who knows? Maybe she is laughing somewhere, the part of her that I still feel sometimes, and feeling free.
That you managed to create this poem with this experience in your life is just wonderful. A tribute to all of us.
I have to say that I read Ina’s poem and felt it deep. I lost my mother to cancer, her sister, and a cousin has fought it, too. I have dear friends now waging their own battles and for each humor and its use is a formidable weapon.
As for this coming challenge, I think it’s terrific! I have no kids to help me devise poems in response, therefore, I’ll sit in the cheering section and sip tea with Andrea as offerings roll in.
You both have done wonders with this blog, Andrea, and should feel pride in so many accomplishments so quickly. Good work from both of you. I may not comment often, but that doesn’t mean I’m not watching. Nwahahaha…
Claudette, we need readers like you – thank you for your support. I can’t help to ask you though: would you be interested in teaming up with a Danish kid from Sejer Island?
And what does that scheming Danish kid have in mind? Hmm…
She needs an English speaking adult because she would like to be in a team here. She’d love to join the challenge in January but she has no adult.
Hi Andrea. My sister is a survivor and has devoted her life to breast cancer. She’s currently Executive Director of the Arizona Institute of Breast Health. She’s one of my best friends.
I love the rules for January’s challenge, but I don’t know any children! My granddaughter’s just two-years old, and though she speaks poetically, as of yet most of it’s undecipherable still!
Richard, of course you can team up with your granddaughter. It will also be in the work together with the child that you come up with new and cultural images and we, I, will make sure that we also include your region – in fact I hope we’ll be able to travel together to all the regions represented by the teams.
The child doesn’t need to write the poem, you being the poet, but you and the child must somehow agree that “it” will be your poem, your answer to the prompt – so you must be able to communicate about each prompt. And you must come up with a fashionable team name.
I agree with Andrea – like I said, I used to follow my son around and when he dropped interesting phrases (he was only learning to talk at 2), I would write them down. One of my favorites: “black beans and black roses.” I never used it in a poem, but I still speculate about what he was seeing in his mind’s eye.
Ina, I expect that you and your son form a team – and here you just gave us the example of what I for my part am looking for. So now you just come up with a name and then we must find out how the teams register.
Det var et dårligt billede da kameraet på iPad’en ikke var specielt godt.
Sidse, jeg synes altså ikke, det er så dårligt, men hvis du kan tage et bedre i morgen, så kan vi bare sætte det ind i stedet for. Okay?
And for the English speaking readers: Sidse isn’t satisfied with the picture and we might put another one here tomorrow. And please know that you can use Google Translate for instance if you want to translate Danish into English.
Og så forsvandt sneen 😦
I’m in the same position as Richard at the moment – as far as not really knowing any kids besides my grandsons but I’m sure my daughter would be okay with me committing one or both of them (3 and 1 years old) to this project and they are rife with poetry already, I can just tell!
Sounds great. We call it “Kid – Adult” to show that for instance it doesn’t need to be “Kid – Mom” poetry (but of course it can) – so a team with you and your grandchildren is just great. Children inspiring an adult writer is our foundation and also that the team will have some fun working with the prompts.
I am no poet, but I am “in” and will give it a go with my daughter. Team name to follow…
And I am so glad that you give the lamingtons a go. Bit tricky but very delish…..Did you not try the Anzac biscuits?
Great – and I can’t wait to hear what your team name will be.
I plan to have a registration form ready this Friday to put up here on the blog so then the teams can see who they are up against.
Oliver fancies the lamingtons and I think the other kids want them, too. I’m the one who’d like to try the Anzacs. But we’ll see. We might try both.
Hej Amanda
Jeg ville blive meget glad, hvis du ville sende en opskrift på lamingtons. Jeg vil helt vildt gerne smage dem:)
Am I limited to teaming up with only 1 kid writer for the WHOLE competition? Could I have a different kid each day?
WOW. I wish I had more than one small person to talk with! This is Andrea’s conception, so let’s see if she agrees with me that this is terrific 🙂
Patricia, this sounds very interesting. Though my idea was about a close relationship between an adult and a child – I see no problem as long as you can administer your team.
I’ll make sure that you can register with more than one child.
OK, thinking, thinking. January is very busy as a rule. Still thinking.