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Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Count our words for Mama Zen

Over at the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, Mama Zen has asked us to write about, for, or with the number 8.
Because words really count with Mama Zen, she asks us not to use more than 80 of them per poem.
I wrote what I thought would surely be fewer than 80 words, and it came out to 91. Just a stroke of luck that removing two lines made it 80.



words that count with mama zen
won’t go up to nine or ten
what she wants today is eight
eight or eighty, not eighty-eight

the thing about eight that’s really great
is: lots of words will rhyme with eight

I can write them on my slate
Wikimedia photo, Portugal,
by Adam Jones, Kelowna, BC
or else pile them on my plate
my appetite I soon will sate
if I just think of number eight

let’s go swinging on the gate
or stuff the cats into a crate!

Wikimedia photo of unmanned level crossing, linking Silt Road to Badgeney End, UK.
Photographer Stan Wray recalls hurting his head on this gate when swinging on it as a child.

16 comments:

Friko said...

You were having fun with this, it shows!

Maude Lynn said...

Awww! Poor cats! You crack me up, Kay.

Susan said...

No crate stuffing for cats! Otherwise a cute and acceptable take on eight.

Kerry O'Connor said...

I can see you had a lot of fun with this one, Kay.

hedgewitch said...

Fun, Kay! Makes me want to jump rope.

jabblog said...

Quite a discipline - and you achieved it:-)

Susie Clevenger said...

Lots of smiles at this one...great write Kay!!

Sherry Blue Sky said...

This made me smile. Loved it.

Debi Swim said...

Ha, my first sentence was "I ate eight crates of medjool dates"
then I started all over again.
Your poem is so cute with all its rhymes.

Helen said...

Oh Kay, you are so original, clever. I love the sing-song rhythm.

Carola Bartz said...

Ha!!! You obviously enjoyed this!!! The accompanying photos are great - but I think you will have trouble stuffing these cats in a crate!

Dimple said...

I hope I may state
I like the gait of
your poem to eight!
:-)

Hannah said...

Your first stanza is...ahem...gr8!! ;) Fun one Kay!

Anonymous said...

you kept stuffed cats - what did you toss???

Penelope Notes said...

I like to draw the figure 8 … in some circles the sign refers to infinity and faith.

Margaret said...

,,,Did Lindy have anything to do with how this poem ended? :)