Love your poem Ellen. When I’ve read it on my phone this morning (cracking straight on with giving this prompt a go 😊) the line breaks have been moved (damn the formatting of poetry on Substack). But on a desktop they are correct. And luckily because you’ve shared the lyric I can still see where they’re meant to be. If anyone knows how to stop this happening on a phone I’d love to know xx
I am just catching up after a busy week and I love this prompt! I often use lyrics as jumping off points for some of my lines but I had not heard of a golden shovel before so I am very excited to try it... immediately! see you back here soon when I give it a go!
Love your poem Ellen. When I’ve read it on my phone this morning (cracking straight on with giving this prompt a go 😊) the line breaks have been moved (damn the formatting of poetry on Substack). But on a desktop they are correct. And luckily because you’ve shared the lyric I can still see where they’re meant to be. If anyone knows how to stop this happening on a phone I’d love to know xx
I love Ellens poetry, they're little gems in the comments section here.
Ah what a lovely comment, thank you 😍
Awesome prompt! I'm so excited to try this (I've never heard of a golden shovel before).
The golden shovel is new to me. I'm looking forward to giving it a try!
Oh I love this! And I loved your poem 😍
I’m really excited to give this a try this week, thanks Ellen 🙏🏼❤️
I've never heard of a golden shovel but I'll dig out a favourite line and give it a go.
What gorgeous poems to share. I've never written a golden shovel but form is something I'm really working on...will give this a go! xo
Ooh, love this idea. In both those examples the line endings give the poem energy. I will give it a go.
I am just catching up after a busy week and I love this prompt! I often use lyrics as jumping off points for some of my lines but I had not heard of a golden shovel before so I am very excited to try it... immediately! see you back here soon when I give it a go!
Monday - I am NOT enjoying this - grrr, brrruph, argh.
Here is my attempt at a golden shovel poem using the line "What happens to a dream deferred?" from Langston Hughes' poem "Harlem":
Aspirations, once vibrant, now faded. What
Becomes of passion when it happens
That life's burdens weigh heavy, leading to
Discouragement, dashing hopes of a
Brighter tomorrow? Does the dream,
Once cherished, simply vanish, deferred?
Credit: Langston Hughes, "Harlem"
…
Rules:
I selected the line "What happens to a dream deferred?" from "Harlem" to use as the basis for my golden shovel poem.
I used each word from the chosen line as the end word for each line in the new poem, in the same order as they appear in the original line.
I gave credit to Langston Hughes and the poem "Harlem" at the end of the new poem.