Wednesday, March 13, 2013

March Madness Poetry 2013: Round - 1 Flight 1


I am thrilled to announce I am participating in Ed DeCaria's March Madness Poetry 2013: "an event designed to bring the excitement of the NCAA March Madness tournament to the world of kids’ poetry. 64 poets from around the world participate in the event; together, these poets write 126 new kids’ poems in just 21 days: IT’S MADNESS!"  

Last year, I discovered this awesome competition after it had already begun and have been waiting 12 long months to get a chance to be one of Ed's Authletes!



There are 64 amazing authletes playing, take a look at the brackets:


I was given my first word at 8:00 pm Monday night and I had 36 hours to complete it.  My poem, along with my opponent's, Mary Lee Hahn, will be posted at 8:00 am this morning. Once they are posted, the voting is open and, at the end of the voting time (one day), the authlete with the most votes moves on to Round 2!   I plan to post my poems for as long as I remain in the competition (this could be my one and only post, but I hope not).  

Now, without further ado, here is my poem for the word Claque:

A CLAQUE, BY ANY OTHER SPELLING

Clickety clack, along the track.  This poem will sure be easy!
What - not clack?  You spell it claque? Oh, now I’m feeling queasy!

Claque's a word I’ve never heard.  I need to check it out!
To quote Roget: “a group they pay, to clap and cheer and shout”.

I surely can’t have sycophants selecting mine for money.
I’d rather they would smile and say, “I picked it ‘cause it’s funny!”


**(of course, after reading it again here, I realized I should have made the first line of the third stanza: "I surely can't have sycophants select my poem for money." - so frustrating!!)  If I'm lucky enough to make it to the next round, I'll hold on to it a little longer to catch things like that!)

So, if you have the time and inclination, head over to Think Kid Think and vote!  May the best authlete win!!


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