In a Nutshell - Charlapalooza

Don't forget to read and vote for your favorite Charlapalooza poems! 

Charla Dury and I have done a fantastic job (if I don't say so myself) writing about all your crazy topics in record time (less than 72 hours I believe... at least for me).  This was all about quantity haha.  Now you get to vote for the quality.

 But first let's fill everyone in on what this past week was all about:

In “The origins of Charlapalooza and what it means to me,” Charla explains:

“Charlapalooza is a blog game where a challenger and I take suggestions of topics on which to write poems. [It] sprouted on my old Myspace blog back in 2006. Suggestions ranged from the serious to the silly and Medussa [Rebecca Godina] and I furiously wracked our brains and wrote our hearts out.  People voted on their favorite poems and we all had fun.”

As I wrote in Meet Charla: Charla’s Mind Key intro blog, “One of the most profound reasons Charla blogs is to bring back a sense of community and connectedness that is often lost in the world of technology.”

As for me: “Strict guidelines, ridiculous suggestions, and sometimes tight forms totally stretched my creative muscle back in 2006 when I first (most willingly) fell victim to Charlapalooza."  But more importantly, “In the process of stretching and learning [Mind Key] is better learning how to get the word out there about our passions… and how we can use our talents to help others.”

~“How Charlapalooza rocked my world.”

 Although as the first-ever Charlapalooza opponent, Rebecca said it most aptly in her post “Charlaplooza Memories,” “What mattered was the mostly foolish but occasionally beautiful poetry that otherwise would have never existed.”

Continue scrolling to read poems such as those submitted in response to Sweet Sweet Wonderland’s next great cupcake challenge, and these by Danielle:

Secret desire

  ~suggested by Dahlia Ramone

There’s a door in the forest

Covered by trees.

If you look carefully you’ll find

A mound of sweet purple blooms

That have no business in that shaded 

Photo by Kely Luzio-Cardona

Grove, basking in rays of sunlight 

Covering a oak slab door. 

What I wouldn’t give to give up

The meatloaf for dinner, the emails

For work, the laundry needing folding.

I’d run to that grove, sneaking into that

Streamer of sunlight, breathing in the 

Blossoms, escaping forever into the

Unknown of that oaken secret door.

by Danielle Rose

Haiku on Common Core Math

  ~suggested by Pat Durkin

Substitutes finger count

Teaching children crap for math

Can’t add two plus two

by Danielle Rose

And 

Seashell Secrets

  ~suggested by Kim

The cool touch of it against my ear

Screamed with the sound of the

Waves crashing high over my head.

Instantly brought back to the summer,

Those moments with my feet in sand

Like snow, sun like charcoal on my hair.

What I wouldn’t give to be there again,

Listening to the water racing on the shore

And racing back again. The unending cycle.

What I wouldn’t give to be back there,

Lost in the sound of that seashell.

Softly slipping water, sliding over

Shells and sounds of the seashore.

What I wouldn’t give to see him once more

On the softly sliding slopes of the dunes.

The secret slippery slope of a seashell.
by Danielle Rose

And these by Charla:

The interior of a tennis ball >:)
  ~suggested by Medussa

They don’t make tiny furniture

With a rounded room in mind

Spherical walls/floor with a circle window/door

Is a tough fit, you’ll find

But it’s warm and out of the elements

And because I’m resourceful, cotton-lined

While not optimal, it’ll have to do

Until my new lease gets signed

Retirement options for the dead ~ as suggested by Jeff Wright

I listen to the police radio

And follow the 420 calls

In hopes of catching a whiff

I criticize the cross stitch

Of my sisters in the church

Over their shoulders

I sit in on family dinners

Listening to the gossip of the day

And roll my eyes

I take vacations with anyone I know

Who is vacationing

And play on the beach

I help my kid work on his car

Give him ideas and

Hand him tools

I whine and complain

To those who can’t listen

Like I did when I was alive

I silently greet at Walmart

Sitting in the corner

Making sure no one steals anything

I sit in my grandson’s garden

And watch his girls

Play in the dirt

Click here to read Charla's Palooza wrap up blog.

A note on voting:  You do NOT have to read and vote for all the poems in one shot.  There are two options: 1.) you can create a login that allows you to come back to a half-completed form.  OR 2.) if you don't do that your name and votes are still recorded in our state-of-the-art voting mainframe.  Just put your name in again, and keep clicking the next button until you get to where you left off. 

Duplicate votes will not be counted! If you mistakenly vote twice for the same poem we will only count the first vote.  And you don't have to vote for all of them.  Or any of them.  We welcome casual readers as well. This is for your enjoyment.

Another Note: Mind Key is working on an anthology of art and writing from our fabulous community.  If you haven't submitted anything but would like to, TODAY is the day to do it (let me know in a comment and I'll send further instructions).  If you particularly love a poem in the Palooza, let us know in a comment to that poem and we will consider it as a submission to the anthology.  We like feedback, so if you like it and want to see it in print, don't be shy about telling us so.

Read more on Charla and the Palooza:


Mind Key on Charlapalooza

Charla's blog on Charlapalooza
by Charla Dury

Charla's musings: The origins of Charlapalooza and what it means to me
by Charla Dury

Charlapalooza Memories
by Rebecca Godina

How Charlapalooza Rocked my world
by Danielle Rose

Meet Charla: Charla Dury's Mind Key Introduction
by Danielle Rose

Link to Charlapalooza:
https://fs22.formsite.com/mindkey/form1/index.html

Share this: