On Monday Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect posted the Homophoem Poetry Stretch challenge (via J. Patrick Lewis). The task: write a two- to ten-line poem using at least one homophone. (Homophones, in case you’ve forgotten, are words that share the same pronunciation but differ in meaning.)
I’ve been writing them all week! What fun (although they do often bring on the groaning response one would get from a pun). Here are a few:
Busted
I snuck some cookies,
ate them in bed.
Mom found the crumbs—
my face was read.
– Violet Nesdoly © 2014 All rights reserved
Project
I’m trying out new morning food
Alpha bits, Bran and Cheerios.
Each week I buy a different box
of breakfast food in serial.– Violet Nesdoly © 2014 All rights reserved
Rabbit Boutique
Luxe de lapin has most unique
accessories for rabbits:
lettuce truffles, thumper pads
baubles of many carrots.
– Violet Nesdoly © 2014 All rights reserved
Lover’s promise
I’ll come for you by morning
or noon or dim twilight
and if the day has got away
I’ll come to you by knight.– Violet Nesdoly © 2014 All rights reserved
Lovesick
The animals cannot be blamed
for feeling a bit confused
by old ram bleating everywhere:
“I love ewe!”
– Violet Nesdoly © 2014 All rights reserved
******************
Are you up for the Homophoem challenge? I’d love to read yours. Add them to the comments here.
This post is part of Poetry Friday, hosted today by Michelle Barnes (greeting card poet extraordinaire!) at Today’s Little Ditty.
P.S. For those who have subscribed to get these posts via Feedburner, I’ve decided to turn off emails after getting the same email (with multiple posts) for three or four days in a row (I subscribe myself so I know what’s happening.) How annoying! Sorry!! The subscribe button on the right sidebar will now take you to subscription options through WordPress.
Violet Nesdoly 
we went to see the orchestra
in Scotland where we stayed
and all the folk were dancing
as every bagpipe plaid
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*Grin* Very nice, Kiwiskan. 🙂
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Love your homophoems. I must challenge my students. My favorite is the knight in shining armor. You are so clever!
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Thanks Margaret! If your students start with a list of homophones–there are websites that have such lists–their creative juices will start flowing for sure. Writing them is fun and can be addictive.
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Well done, Violet! I wasn’t sure I even wanted to attempt one after reading kate’s, but I did, and shared it on their page and on my blog. But I only did one – how you came up with this many so quickly is mind-boggling to me!
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Thanks Matt, but you are much too modest. I can see you churning these out.
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I can see kids loving to make these! Great idea 🙂
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So clever–thanks for sharing these! I too was a bit inhibited by Kate’s masterpiece, but you’re inspiring me to give it another try.
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Yes, you must, Buffy! Lots of fun when they come together.
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What a fun exercise! In some ways, the process is similar to writing humorous greeting cards since you’re starting with the punchline. I’m with Margaret, my favorite is “Lover’s Promise.”
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These are wonderful, Violet.I really like the ‘serial’ project. I wish I’d seen Tricia’s challenge and will go to look. It’s rough, but here’s mine-fun to try!
Wide stares as my sons
walked up the stairs
and louder grew my groan
when I saw there
their pants rose higher
because again they’d grown.
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Good one, Linda! Once you became aware of homophones, you’ll see them everywhere! (Thanks for “grown” and “grown” is another one for my list!)
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Busted and Lover’s Promise are my favorites! I tried and tried to write one, but I couldn’t get that punchline ending down. You nailed yours! Three cheers!!
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Thanks Mary! I think you have to get into a certain mindset to write these. It reminds me of sitting in front of one of those optical illusion-type pictures that changes in front of your eyes as you stare at it.
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Hi there Violet, such smart poems! I love Lover’s Promise too. It’s always wonderful to play with words. 🙂
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Thank you Myra! That’s exactly what it is, playing with words.
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Oh, these are fun! I bet kids would like the humor. I especially like Busted and Lover’s Promise. I might have to give this a try.
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