I'm still travelling and singing around the Maritimes, so I haven't been able to read so many days' worth of amazing posts. I decided to concentrate on some of my favourites from one particular day, my favourite prompt where I did manage to read every single post. I love poetry, wordplay and rhyme, and I was pretty excited to see what people came up with for the poetry topic. I'm especially excited because I created a new English course for my college which runs for the first time in the fall, and that means I get to really teach a section on poetry to undergrads for the first time! Though unfortunately I won't get to use any D-Poetry, I think these are all worth your time.
I love this week every year, and I want to thank everyone who wrote, who read my blog, and especially the kind people who have commented. You all warmed my heart. Thank you.
The first category is near and dear to my heart: parodies.
I love William Carlos Williams parodies so much. It's unhealthy. I'm going to teach that poem and use it to show how poetry is a living art form that we still constantly respond to. Here's another fun one for my collection of "This Is Just To Say" parodies, by Naomi at T1International. I always wondered why he ate those plums (was it spite? Assertion of power?) but a low makes total sense.
10 Things I Hate About You is a guilty pleasure, but one of my favourite movies of all time. It just hit that snarky Shakespearean sweet spot when I was in high school. Here's a parody of Kat's final poem that just works so well with diabetes, by Jessica over at Chasing Lows.
Scott at Rolling In The D did a Spongebob parody that I thought would make a nice companion to my "Under the D" Little Mermaid undersea parody, and My Lazy Pancreas also went Disney with her takeoff of a piece from Frozen.
The second category is limericks and humour.
I thought Laddie's post from the perspective of her dog Abby was just cute and funny, until it hit me with the image of diabetes being that big black dog that never leaves your side ("the black dog" also being a famous euphemism for depression). Loved it.
Pancreassassin's limericks just got better and better. I loved the unconventional rhyme about the insurance company, and the thought of a low causing someone to almost trip over their dog made me laugh, probably because it's true.
"My uncle's feet fell off/To everyone's surprise" and the "Can you eat that?" refrain wins this poem by Mike at Every Day Ups and Downs a spot on the list.
The third category is imagery and lines that took my breath away.
I love Christel at The Perfect D's comparison of an insulin needle to the needle on a record player. It's beautiful.
The use of the sestina form at Coffee and Insulin was really well done and unusual.
The last line of this poem at A Sweet Grace is just unexpected and brilliant, and the rhythm that the writer creates is so compelling.
Thanks to everyone for your hard work every day, and for an amazing D-Blog Week, especially Karen for putting it all together and tirelessly commenting on everything. Keep writing, keep talking, and I'll see you at #dsma!
As an English major (at Princeton, of course!), I often used to wonder whether the authors that we analyzed in lengthy term papers really planned all of the stuff we wrote about. I absolutely love the idea that blacks labs can represent depression, but you are crediting me with more artistry than I deserve. I did though intend the idea that diabetes stays by my side all of the time like my loyal black lab:-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout-out.
Aw, thanks for including me in your post! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat list!
ReplyDelete