Hi there! Hope I didn’t spook anyone by showing up in your mailbox a whole day early, but it’s a special occasion!
I’m not much for entering contests, and writing contests in particular usually make me shudder. There’s nothing like a story starter or writing prompt or rigid set of rules to make by brain seize up and all creativity flow directly out of my socks.
But today I am making an exception, because Susanna Leonard Hill wants me to. She’s gone and put up a contest that piqued my interest, darn it! I had no choice but to rise to the challenge. To whit:
VALENTINE’S DAY CONTEST
Write a children’s story, poetry or prose, about unlikely Valentines.
Maximum 200 words.
That’s it! I can handle that!
As of now: GO HERE TO READ THE ENTRIES
And on February 14: GO HERE TO VOTE
Now gather ’round, get cozy with your teddy bears, and enjoy my little ditty of 187 words: “Pencil and Pen: A Composed Love Story.”
[column size=”1-2″]Pencil and Pen: A Composed Love Story
Said Pen to Pencil, casually:
What do you think of you and me?
Said Pencil, in a righteous huff:
You? You’re too indelible!
I really couldn’t deal.
You put things down on paper
that then you can’t repeal!
I find that irresponsible!
Take heed of this one phrase:
You’ll never, ever win me
till you mend your inky ways.
Said Pen to Pencil, low and gruff:
And you, my dear? Irresolute!
You clearly can’t commit.
You hem and haw, then turn around
and rub out what you writ!
You can’t be trusted, fickle one,
your word is a disgrace,
so any thoughts you had of love
you might as well erase.
Arrogant!
Ambiguous!
Imperious! You cad!
Ambivalent!
Impertinent!
Precarious! You’re mad!
…………….
Said Pen:
I find you irresistible,
you gorgeous graphite girl.
He drew a heart around her
in an everlasting swirl.
Said Pencil:
I think you might be lovable;
I think it’s you I choose.
Then she colored in his heart
with a million subtle hues.
They’ve been together ever since,
their lives one long embrace,
and raised eight little scribbles
in their blissful, cozy case.[/column]
[column size=”1-2″ last=”1″]
Valentine’s Day + Pencil and Pen Activities
- Danielle’s Place has a plethora of adorable Valentine’s Day crafts for kids.
- A site devoted to games you can play with nothing more than a pencil and paper? Yes, please! Check out pencilandpapergames.com.
- Try some step-by-step drawing tutorials at Artists Helping Children.
[divider=”1″]Video Location: Baratti, Italy.
See more poems in my poetry video library. “Pencil and Pen: A Composed Love Story” Copyright © 2012 Renée LaTulippe Ceramics by Deborah Ciolli. I’ll be interviewing Deborah and her crazy cats next week!
Oh what writerly wit. I LOVE this poem. I was happily surprised by the happy ending. This is going to take some beating!
Hehe. I couldn’t resist, Joanna. And I was surprised by the happy ending, too — the poem just took me there!
So appropo for a writer! Such passion here–both before and after they fall in love. And the rhyme is superb! Loved it! Great stuff!
Nice to see you here, Rebecca. Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Wonderful! I think it’s fantastic that you can do this on video and what a super poem. What fun!
Thanks, Catherine. This one was actually a really hard read, what with the fight and all. Took me forever, and I was FREEZING, haha!
This is superb and a video to boot. I love this story.
Wow! I didn’t realize you were going to video this one too! Now you’re making us all look like slackers! THANKS, Lady! 🙂 You know I love the poem! Smart, sophisticated and clever as always!
Well of COURSE I did a video – it’s Poetry Monday, after all! I just killed two birds with one stone. Poor birdies!
I love it! What a clever, unusual couple to write about. Your rhymes are beautiful.
A video AND activities? Heaven help us Renee! Love your inky graphite pair and their tempestuous courtship! Fabulous how you used the text to indicate the speaker.
You are so like me – we cannot resist Susanna’s siren submissions call no matter how difficult a challenge she poses!
@ Heather – Thank you! I thoroughly enjoyed your entry as well!
@ Cathy – I know! I just couldn’t paddle away fast enough, I guess!
LOL! I love it, and your reading was great fun. Oh, I know I shouldn’t have started going through my reader until I posted my own poem. But I couldn’t help myself and I’m glad I did. My favorite line is “you gorgeous graphite girl!”
So witty! I love this! As a writer, the concept of pen and pencil isn’t lost on me either. 🙂
@ Hannah – I think that’s my fave line, too, Hannah. Pen is such a pencil’s man!
@ Rebecca – Glad you like it! 🙂
Renee,
You are just oozing with talent and cleverness. The video was such fun. That is incredible! The ending is precious. I heart your poem.
I can totally see this conversation happening between a pen and a pencil. I love it!
@ Penny – Aw, you always say the nicest things! I loved Frankenstein, too. 🙂
@ Tracy – Rivals to the end…
Oh, this is so clever,
I don’t think I’d ever, ever
write with pens.
The pencil always wins!
(Sorry, you inspired me to respond in kind.) I will keep this for writing workshop and my students. I hope you don’t mind my sharing. And, the video is also such a great example of staging drama. Thanks for a happy post to read on Sunday night.
Hi Renee,
I guess I’m not surprised…even though I don’t know you…I kind of knew yours would be FANTASTIC!
Love the words, love the rhyme, love the story from beginning to end.
And the activities and resources are GREAT!
I couldn’t get the sound to work on the video…obviously a problem on my end…but I will keep at it…doing video clips for YouTube is something I know I need to learn to do. 🙂
@ Linda – Are you kidding? I would be honored if you shared the poem with your students! Thank you so much!
@ Vivian – Aw, shucks, thanks for all your kind words. So glad you liked it. Bummer about the video. Maybe you could try going directly to my YouTube channel and trying it from there: http://www.youtube.com/user/NoWaterRiver?feature=mhee
oh wow! oh wow! Then again I am not surprised, you always do such a beautiful job. Thankyou for this lovely poem.
Very cute and creative! Love how the pencil can’t “commit.”
Happy Valentine’s Day!
@ Diane – So glad you enjoyed it!
@ Tina – Welcome to NWR. Pencils are so wishy-washy!
THIS IS SO COOL! I actually was thinking about doing my poem about a pencil and paper but I couldn’t it figure out . I really like how they are fighting back and forth then have a happy ending!
You should definitely give it another go, Erik. I admit this one took some wrangling before I got it to behave!
Great poem, Renee! So clever! I think my favorite line is “You hem and haw then turn around and rub out what you writ!”… but it’s pretty hard to choose! It’s especially fun to get to hear you read it – brings it to life so much! Thanks so much for bending you contest rules and joining the fun! 🙂
Thanks, Susanna! That line is thanks to Natalie Fischer, who didn’t like the original line I had there — this was my second attempt. She MADE me change it, and I’m so glad I did. That’s what’s so great about having fabulous critique partners.
Soo funny. I love that you can whip out smart alecky poetry soo quickly.
I’m so glad you couldn’t resist. It’s great!
Great Poem! It’s a winner!
@ Alison – Ah, my years of being a sarcastic smart aleck have finally paid off. Huzzah! Now go tell my mother! 🙂
@ Stacy @ Louise – Thanks to you both. Glad you enjoyed it!
You better win the damn contest! I hate Valentine’s Day but loved it anyway. I am most definitely a pen and do the NY Times crossword in pen every day!
I’m not much for Vday either, David. And I’m a pen too! In fact, to introduce the poem, I was going to write about how I always did the NYT crosswords in pen, too — great minds and all that! 🙂
OMG! I love, love LOVE this, Renee! I haven’t even read any other entries yet and I hope you win!…;0)
Wow, thank you very much, Donna! But go read the other entries, too. Everyone came up with really fun stuff!
I LOVE this poem! One great line after another- so wonderfully witty! A winner for sure.
Thanks, Iza – that means a lot coming from you! 🙂
Great entry Renee. Very unique and creative! I loved the ending, So many fun entires.
Love it!
Renee that was wonderful. Thanks for sharing
@ Pat, Alison, Jennifer — A million thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
Another fantastic entry! It’s going to be hard for Susanna to pick a winner. You should be proud of yourself for doing such a great job. Well done, Renee. I’m so glad you posted early. I did a special post, too. 🙂
Thanks so much, Clar! I enjoyed reading yours yesterday, and left a comment on it. Yes, I’m glad I’m not Susanna…:)
Witty and wonderful, Renee! I took a break from packing to read this. Great job!
Sorry to interrupt your packing! So glad you liked it!
Loved the whole poem — and I chuckled out loud at the line “I find you irresistible, you gorgeous graphite girl.” You are very talented!
So — glad you read the poem too.
What else can I say — It was fabulous!
Thanks Eric, glad I could make you smile! 🙂
Oh my, Renee! So clever! I am terrible with rhyme, so I am in awe. Good job!
Awesome poem, Renee! There are so many lines that I loved. Great rhyming and I loved their personalities. 🙂
@ Amy @ Margaret – Thank you both for the kind words!
I love the poem. It’s so witty and the pen and pencil are such great characters. Thanks also for stopping by my blog. I love meeting fellow PB makers.
Thats a cool take on a pencil and a pen’s reaction to eachother.
I truly enjoy your blog! I have awarded you the Liebster Blog Award! Please visit my blog to learn more.
Cute!
I hope you had a great Valentine’s Day, Renée. Thanks for the poem– I <3 it of course. I wondered how'd you'd manage to bring them together in the end and you did–perfectly!
“how” not “how’d” Wow. I’m tired today!
You are so talented! Beautiful story! I love your blog!
Ha! I loved the scribbles at the end!