Roberta Writes – Tanka Tuesday and Esther Chilton’s writing challenge #Halloween #poetry #photographs

robertawrites235681907 Uncategorized October 29, 2024 2 Minutes

My poem and pictures are doing double duty again for both Tanka Tuesday and Esther Chilton’s writing Challenge.

You can join in Esther’s writing challenge with the theme of Halloween here: https://estherchilton.co.uk/2024/10/23/writing-prompts-37/

This week, Colleen is hosting Tanka Tuesday with a fun Halloween poetry challenge.

This is the challenge:

Witches and their potions are synonymous with Halloween. Let’s create a spellbinding poem. (longer syllabic forms work best). You can write freestyle, but you must include a syllabic form too!

Write a syllabic poem about a witch brewing a potion. Include vivid descriptions of ingredients and their effects.

You can make the poem a rhythmic chant or incantation, enhancing the magical feel of your words. The idea is to have fun, so humor works!

➡️ Feel free to use end rhymes on forms that don’t usually have them. Please let us know the form and if you’re using end rhymes. (The use of end rhymes is optional).

For this challenge, if you’re using end rhymes on forms that don’t usually have end rhymes, you’re creating experimental syllabic poetry. 🥳

You can join in Colleen’s challenge here: https://tankatuesday.com/2024/10/29/tankatuesday-halloween-poetry-challenge-10-29-24/

I did use end rhymes for my poem which is freestyle rhyming verse (is that a real form or did I just make this up?) with a micro poem at the end. The first word of every line also creates a famous quote. I’ve given you the book from whence the quote comes in the content of the poem. Hehe! This is an inverse Golden Shovel poem as the first word creates the quote (and not the last) as I wanted the last lines to rhyme. This was a most interesting challenge and certainly stretched my writing abilities.

Cooking for Halloween

Double the worms to make it wriggle

Double the worms to make it jiggle

Toil to create the perfect Halloween pie

And a delicious dip of beetles and a fly

Trouble is the oven’s been playing up

Fire in the chimney the cooking disrupts

Burn the crust and Count Sugular will grumble

And Baby Howler will complain and rumble

Cauldron on the stove suddenly boils over

Bubble mixture pops from air exposure

By lifting the pot, Witch Honey the punch saves

The alcoholic fruit bats inside still misbehave

Pricking visible fingers with horny wings

Of these bats no witch praise ever sings

“My goodness,” she cries, giving one a smack

“Thumbs would make a much better snack

Something needs to be done right away

Wicked creatures do not make my day

This on top of cooking, will be my death

Way things are going, I’ll end up like MacBeth

Comes someone my way? Quick, put on a smile”

***

Halloween party

Requires much preparation

Cooking up a storm

Picture caption: The gingerbread Haunted House where the Halloween party will be held

Picture caption: Witch Honey in her holiday swimsuit – fondant creation

Picture caption: Jiggle Jelly the sea serpent with his swimming ring – fondant creation

Picture caption: Baby Howler in his coffin bed -fondant creation

If you like these characters, you can read more about them in Haunted Halloween Holiday by Robbie and Michael Cheadle available from TSL Publications here: https://tslbooks.uk/product/haunted-halloween-holiday-robbie-and-michael-cheadle/