Scrabblepoem 2

It’s here! The event we’ve all been waiting for…The Second Annual Scrabblepoem Challenge. Without further ado, at 2.75 points per letter, my entry:

Ode to Word Games

Puzzler! Quandary!
Wit-wrack, quiet-jinx!
Numbers, words shan’t coincide
My tranquility axed with
quack- quaky- quartz- quiz- fox-packed ride:
Nix Scrabble! Nix Quiddler*!

But wait…There’s more! The creation below, weighing in at 2.48 points per letter, is from first-time entrant Mallory, aka Number-One Daughter.

A fuzzy zap
Leaves me perplexed
I dizzily speculate
Which way is which
With a quack I evoke
That my surname finishes
With a K
I will puzzle until
My memory visits

Ta Da! Well worth all the anticipation and hoopla, I know.

You’ll want to see what Lisa and Jim cooked up. Anyone else who accepted the challenge is welcome to leave a link in the comments, and thanks for playing!

*For those who aren’t familiar with it, Quiddler is a card-word game, kind of a cross between Scrabble and Gin Rummy. (Check out the medieval-style lettering on the cards.) Loads of fun, and I thank my little sister for getting me hooked.

Return of the Scrabblepoem

It’s official. The Scrabblepoem Challenge returns. How does it work?

1. Write a poem or verse (125 letter minimum).
2. Add up the Scrabble-tile score for all your words (e.g., the word by would score 7).
3. Divide this total by the number of letters to get your Scrabblepoem score.
4. Post your creation—and score—for all the world to see NEXT FRIDAY, February 5, 2010.

For the interested, baffled, curious, disgusted, check out these from last year:

Clanq, by moi.
Limerickqxz, by Lisa Chellman
An HP Ditty, by Jim Danielson

And for some REAL poetry, check out Poetry Friday, hosted today by Anastasia Suen.

Exciting Things

1. Learning Connections
As in, after I read Mark Kurlansky’s The Story of Salt with the kids, then found the adult version, Salt (which Number-One Daughter insists looks and sounds like a novel, with that kind of title); and the day after I read about how salt was used for embalming in ancient Egypt (different grades for different classes of people), the kids and I started reading a book about ancient Egypt (100 Things You Should Know About Ancient Egypt, by Jane Walker) and found a spread about embalming which of course mentioned salt. Oh, and it happens that Number-One Daughter is studying ancient Egypt in school right now, and had only a day or two before described (with relish, at the dinner table) how the embalming process required that the brain be removed through the nose with a hook, and the organs placed in jars. Yep. Read that in the book, too. I’m pretty sure learning is taking place here, a lot of it mine…

Or how about this one: One night, in a book called Animals Under the Ground, by Phyllis J. Perry, Princess Two and I read about the kangaroo rat, and how it lives in the desert but gets all the moisture it needs through the seeds it eats. A little later the same night, Number-One Daughter and I found this passage in Scott O’Dell’s The King’s Fifth:

…[F]rom a pocket in her skirt she took a small, ratlike creature, with long back legs, and held it up in the palm of her hand.

“What is it?” I asked.

“An aguatil. It lives in the deserts and never needs to drink water. It does not like water. Its name is Montezuma.”

I doubted her story but it was true. In the days to come, when horses and men thirsted, this ratlike creature thrived, getting by some means from the seeds it ate, the water it needed.

I also found it handy to have Animals Under the Ground nearby when the younger two and I started reading The Wind in the Willows, for the photos of moles and badgers. Have I ever mentioned how much I love books?

2. New Yarn Store
Friend Jill took me to her new discovery yesterday afternoon. A lovely, old-fashioned storefront, dangerously close to home, filled with gorgeous yarns of every shape, color, texture. Heavenly. I bought a small ball of rainbow-colored wool that was just enough for a baby-sized beanie, and some variegated green supersoft cotton of whose possibilities I am still dreaming…

3. Impending New Releases
In 2 weeks: the Percy Jackson movie
In 8 weeks: Megan Whalen Turner’s latest book featuring Eugenides, the Thief of Eddis, titled A Conspiracy of Kings. Love, love, love these books.

4. Return of the Scrabblepoem Challenge
That’s right. Stay tuned for the official announcement, complete with rules, coming this Friday!

Scrabblepoem: Clanq

Thanks to Lisa and Jim and anyone else out there who accepted my Scrabblepoem challenge. Coming in at 2.07 points (624 Scrabble score divided by 301 total letters), my offering:

Once upon a day quite sunny,
Just because I thought ’twas funny,
I blazed a challenge—
     Clanq!

Yea, Scrabblepoem of piquant delight,
The highest score my aim in flight,
Behold my challenge—
     Clanq!

When I began to scope my tiles,
My confidence fled; thence my smiles:
I’d lost my prized K—
     Clanq!

Though I’d flung my gauntlet bold,
My courage failed (my feet quite cold)…
Quoth my tiles—
     Clanq!

Don’t worry, I haven’t quit my day job yet. To enjoy some REAL poetry, check out today’s Poetry Friday offerings at Wild Rose Reader.

Scrabblepoem: warming up

Getting into training for the Scrabblepoem challenge. Coming in at 2.28 points (total number of Scrabble points divided by number of letters):

To Fleece

For winter warmth,
You’re cozy and happy.
My only wish:
You weren’t so zappy.

I didn’t count the title, by the way. Lesson learned: even with all those 10-point Zs, 3-point Ps, and 4-point Ws and Ys, the 1-pointers dragged me down. Stay tuned for my *Masterpiece* on Friday.