Susanna Leonard Hill’s Birthday Story Contest is going on over at her blog. For the contest, we had to write a birthday story in 300 words or less. Mine is 298 words…whew…just slid in under the limit. Be sure to keep reading after my story, as I have information about the contest and Susanna’s wonderful blog.

Mouse Du Jour

Mercer trembled. Mercer shook…
trapped beside The Cat’s Cookbook.
He’d been caught and stowed away
as the birthday gift this day.

He stole a glance…page twenty-four
featured Yummy Mouse Du Jour.
Carl the Cat devoured each word,
marked the page, and loudly purred.

Oh! I am toast,” Mercer thought,
“if I don’t improve my lot.”
So, he cleared his throat and spoke—
less a squeak, and more a croak.

“Mr. Cat, I’m rather small
to feed the Cats—one and all.
Just think how nice the feast would be
to have a dish or two—plus me.

See, I’m a chef and I can cook
up every entree in that book.
Then the Cats can all eat hearty
at your special birthday party.”

Carl blinked. His cat eyes bright,
and then meowed, “You may be right.
But, mousey, if you try to bail…
I’ll eat you…starting with your tail. ”

So Carl and Mercer, side by side,
minced and mixed and flaked and fried.

Carl chopped while Mercer topped.
Mercer dipped while Carl whipped.
Carl tossed while Mercer sauced.
Mercer stirred while Carl whirred.

Then they both glazed and basted;
scraped the bowls; licked and tasted.

Right before page twenty-four
the Cats were knocking at the door.
Mercer thought, “Hey, look at me!
It looks as if I might go free!”

But then he lost his cheery mood
when he was placed among the food.
He figured, “I’m good as dead!”
with candles blazing on his head.

Flames were swatted—swish, swish, swish!
And Carl purred, “My birthday wish….
…was for Yummy Mouse Du Jour.
But that has changed—I am sure.

So, now my little cooking friend
we’ll be chefs until the end.
And I’m asking you to stay
to celebrate my special day.”

The End and Bon Appétit 🙂

I discovered Susanna’s contests when she hosted a Thanksgiving contest this past November. I have entered every contest since. There are reasons why I enter the contests:

• It’s a great writing exercise.
• Susanna has prizes…great prizes!
• Reading all the entries is just so much fun!!!
• I have gotten to know awesome people in the writing community.
• I have discovered other writer’s wonderful blogs while reading their entries.

When I found Susanna’s blog by entering the Thanksgiving contest, I became a faithful follower. I have to say that she has one of the most useful blogs out in kidlitosphere. I participate in each one of her features, because I learn from them. Check out her schedule blog HERE.

If you haven’t entered a contest before, now is the time. Even if you don’t enter, you will be doing yourself a favor to read the entries…really…it is so much fun!!! The deadline is Tuesday May 22 at 11:59 PM EDT. For all the details, click HERE.

It’s Day 25 of the 26 day A to Z Poetry Challenge hosted by Rena Traxel. Here is a quote from Rena’s website about today’s challenge.” Y is for you. Today is all about you. I want you to spend the day thinking about yourself then write a poem. What is a self-portrait poem? It’s a poem about yourself.”

So, I did my first poem collection. Don’t be scared off by the word “collection”….My poems are short. 

Penny-A Rare Collection

Pretty Penny

Penny Wise: Note From Parents

Lucky Penny

A Penny Found

Rare Coin

A Penny For Your Thoughts

Coin Toss

In God I Trust

A Penny on a Railroad Track

I have to start out by saying that my poem today will make ABSOLUTELY no sense unless you consider that it is a found poem. You don’t know what that is???? Ha! Neither did I until this morning. Rena Traxel explains all about it on her blog today as we come to Day 24 of the A to Z Poetry Challenge. Also, HERE is a link to The Found Poetry Project. Rena created an online version for us to use-how clever of her! Essentially we are give “source text” (simply put—a bunch of random text taken from a bunch of random sources)…Then we use the words to make up a poem. I went through and highlighted words I wanted to use and then added some words of my own to create my completely random poem. If you’d like to see my the “source text” Rena provided us, click HERE and scroll down to where it says Source Text.

A Found Poem-Boy Blue, Wolfy Fella and Cinder-gal

Boy Blue stomped his feet

Go away! I’m not yours to eat!

You bushy tailed canine,

You’re not going to dine

On me or Cinderella

Got that? Wolfy fella?

You say you’re NOT here gnaw and chew

On Cinder-gal or her wooden shoe?

Well, then don’t piddle and putter

Have some crunchy peanut butter

And some beans, corn, peas.

Although I doubt that will please.

As for me and my main squeeze

We will head for balm and breeze.

And sing from the rooftops

Because, Dude, we have “nice chops!”

So, “Later” you hairy bafoon

We’re off on our honeymoon!

It is Day 22 of our A to Z Poetry Challenge. Today is the letter “V”. “V” is for a lot of things…but Renee LaTulippe over at No Water River is all about “V” for Video. She has the most wonderful Poetry Video Library. Make sure you visit…you won’t want to leave. Also, make sure you don’t miss her interview. Our incredible organizer, Rena Traxel asked all the right questions, and Renee gave all the right answers. On top of that, Renee shares her own poem, Ugly Pants.

Rena challenged us to write a poem about a vampire, keeping in mind all the performance tips that Renee shared with us. I wrote two very short poems.

Little Vampires

Little vampires out at night

Sharp, sharp fangs. Bite, bite, bite.

Little vampires sleep all day

Sweet, sweet dreams of a neck buffet.

 VAMPIRE

Veins

Arteries

Mad

Passion

Indulged

Recklessly

End the beating

Yea! Day 21! I cannot believe it. We are already to U in the A to Z Challenge that Rena Traxel organized for National Poetry Month! For the letter U, Rena talked about the universality of poetry…how it touches us…how it taps into life’s common experiences. She challenged us to write a poem that depicts our universe. The minute I read about the challenge today, I thought about how writers are able to express their universe creatively. I’m not sure everyone can relate to “my universe”…because frankly…sometimes, I think what I think in my universe is pretty strange. But today, I’m just putting it out there in a trail of thoughts that ended up in a poem.

In My Universe

In my universe, Bunny is an underground spy

with a watchful eye

on Drake

the snake

who has forced a worm to squirm

under interrogation—

crawly humiliation.

In my universe, Bunny thumps snake, THWACK! on the head…

no—Drake is not dead

but shocked

to be clocked

by a fuzzy-type spy-guy.

Evil termination,

reptile incarceration.

In my universe, Bunny and a tortured worm can win

once, and then again.

I dictate

what’s on my slate

in my own verse universe.

True authentication

of my imagination.

Today, for our A to Z Poetry Challenge, Rena challenged us to tweet and share our poetry on Twitter. You can find the details right HERE on her blog. I chose to write a short acrostic poem for a Twitter share. Tweets must be short and sweet, so I kept it that way. I even had room to share Rena’s Twitter handle, blog address and a couple of hashtags: #poetry #poem. It was really fun!

Surf

Swell

Under and up

Ride

Fabulous