Week 6: Ace of Diamonds

One time, in elementary school, I won 2nd place in a poetry contest for the following:

"Lombard Street"

Lombard Street is a twisty street and it is very hilly.
I get sick when I go down it and my stomach feels full of butterflies.
People say to move away but I say, "No! I love this street!"
You can see so many views - Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.
So don't say move away.  I'm going to stay.


Then, in college, I collected extra credit in my fishing class for penning the following:

"Fishy Fishy"

Fishy, fishy, swim this way.
Fishy, fishy, make my day.
The lure is lurking, take a look!
Have a nibble, get caught by the hook.

Fishy, fishy, please don't cry.
Your fate is not to the skillet to fry.
I'll comfort you with gentle hands,
then toss you back to the water and sands.

Fishy, fishy, thanks for taking part
In this sport I call luck, and others call art.


I also performed "Fishy Fishy" at a coffee shop in my college town, Athens.  It was a funny moment.  People were getting up and reading really deep, dark, poems - and then I hopped on stage and did little motions as I recited.  It was not well received and I remember the owner of the shop saying something to the effect of: Well, not everything has to be meaningful I suppose.

Anyway, I may not be so great at it, but I enjoy writing and don't do it nearly enough.  So I made a card that forced me to get the creative juices flowing.  I think I had extra pressure to do a good job since I knew I'd be posting it... and things didn't really come together.  Did you all catch the article about the cartoonist who The New Yorker rejected 610 times?  In case you missed it: http://www.npr.org/2015/01/25/379787274/howd-a-cartoonist-sell-his-first-drawing-it-only-took-610-tries

I decided that I'd send my latest creation to The New Yorker in hopes of finding out exactly what  "...two of the most elegantly phrased sentences," in their rejection letter are. I'll keep you posted.

P.S. - I'm bound to be rejected.  I wrote a haiku about living without gluten.  It was written while at lunch with my family - watching them enjoy onion straws and seeing people at the bar downing beers.  Two things I miss a lot
.