2.07.2012

Bio-Poem - writercize #161

My writing mind is all over the place today. It has been an insanely busy news day here in Southern California between the Prop 8 ruling and news about Miramonte Elementary, the LAUSD school that made international news for removing all teachers and support staff until further notice due to the two arrests made last week of teachers engaging in lewd behavior. I have been listening to the news nonstop, and my journalism brain is kicked into high gear, which means I am imagining questions that should be asked and creating stories in my mind even if they are not on paper.

Beyond the news, I decided to "run" the Picture Book Marathon this month, which means that I have committed to write 26 first drafts of picture books in the course of a month. I have four on the books so far, which means I have no more rest days or I will have to double up over the next couple weeks! The good news is I read the first drafts out loud to my kids this morning, and they were full of giggles, so I feel like I am on the right track and inspired to keep going.

Add in a little flash fiction here and there, over at #5MinuteFiction today, and my mind is screaming for a creative break! Therefore, I will treat it to a bio-poem.

A bio-poem is an autobiographical poem that follows a distinct pattern. My parents assigned it to their fifth graders to get to know them at the beginning of the school year. I had largely forgotten about them until a couple weeks ago when I ran across one on a post by a member of the Group Blogging Experience, aka GBE 2. When I saw it I stashed it deep into my mind for use on a Day of Limited Writercize Inspiration, or a Day of Overthinking, as AA Milne may have described it. (Gotta love how you could gauge the importance of any topic through his use of capitalization.)

Hopefully you find this mindless exercise as relaxing as me!

writercize: Write a bio-poem, using the following formula, as posted on the University of Chicago website:

(First name)-
(Four adjectives that describe the person)
Son or Daughter of (your parents names)
Lover of (three different things that the person loves)
Who feels (three different feelings and when or where they are felt)
Who gives (three different things the person gives)
Who fears (three different fears the person has)
Who would like to see (three different things the person would like to see)
Who lives (a brief description of where the person lives)
-(last name)

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response. Please feel free to share yours in the comment section, along with a link to your blog!
writercizer sample response:

Alana-
Ambitious, Daydreaming, Authentic, Analytical
Daughter of Ron and Tuni
Lover of family, the beauty of language and the thrill of new experiences
Who feels humbled by her daughters' love, proud of what she can create with her mind and optimistically cynical about the future
Who gives her heart, spirit and soul to those she loves
Who fears pain for her children, missing out on the moments while lost in the planning, and forgetting the people and places she holds dear
Who would like to see the bright colors of India, the mountains of Tibet and the Atacama Desert
Who lives a mile from the world's largest ocean in the City of Angels
-Garrigues

1 comment:

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