Corinne from Everyday Gyan tagged me for this 7x7x7x7 prompt.
What’s this 7x7x7x7 Prompt, I wondered. Corinne elaborates it on her blog. She says, grab the 7th book from your bookshelf. Open it up to page 7. Pinpoint the 7th sentence on the page. Begin a poem that begins with that sentence and limit it in length to 7 lines.
Now, when I read the word “Poem”… I thought, Nah! This is not for me. Because poetry and me are like cheese and chalk! And soon so many like me, joined the conversation on Facebook giving creative excuses and labelling ourselves as poetically challenged. But Corinne, the most positive person I have ever met (virtually), pushed us to show our creativity in writing 7 lines too! :D
So, here, I am pushing myself to do this creative challenge… The 7th book on one of the shelf of my library cupboard is… 3’s a Crowd by Vijay Nagaswami. The 7th page of the book reads, “variety is the spice of life”…
Here’s my juvenile 7 line poem, which is inspired by the theme of this book…
What’s this 7x7x7x7 Prompt, I wondered. Corinne elaborates it on her blog. She says, grab the 7th book from your bookshelf. Open it up to page 7. Pinpoint the 7th sentence on the page. Begin a poem that begins with that sentence and limit it in length to 7 lines.Now, when I read the word “Poem”… I thought, Nah! This is not for me. Because poetry and me are like cheese and chalk! And soon so many like me, joined the conversation on Facebook giving creative excuses and labelling ourselves as poetically challenged. But Corinne, the most positive person I have ever met (virtually), pushed us to show our creativity in writing 7 lines too! :D
So, here, I am pushing myself to do this creative challenge… The 7th book on one of the shelf of my library cupboard is… 3’s a Crowd by Vijay Nagaswami. The 7th page of the book reads, “variety is the spice of life”…
Here’s my juvenile 7 line poem, which is inspired by the theme of this book…
Variety is the spice of life…
It surely excites the appetite
Brings a smile that is bright
Always adds to the delight
But in the bond of a man and a wife
It spells strife
And a trouble in paradise.
Ok, a few learnings from this attempt..
- Nothing is impossible
- Poetry is truly not my cup of tea!
Good attempt! Pretty nice for the first time.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rachna! Glad that I attempted to write this form of expression, but honestly, I dont have a flair for poems! :D
Deletecmon u cant say tht after spin epoetry!
ReplyDeleteI know, what you mean, Meena :D but Spine Poetry is very different from a verse or a poetry!! :D
DeleteShilpa,
ReplyDeleteYou say poetry for you is like chalk and cheese,
And that too after writing 7 lines like these?
Take care
Thanks for kind words, Mr J :D
DeleteCool creation!
ReplyDeleteWell framed.
Thanks Indrani :)
DeleteQuite good Shilpa, and you happened to have got a very easy, and famous proverb. You were lucky. I tried and found a line from Swift's collection of essays, and it was all Greek and Latin to me.
ReplyDeleteHowever it is a nice way to challenge ourselves. Such challenges are a good way to boost our creativity.
Yes, lucky to get a nice sentence on the 7th line of the 7th page!!
DeleteHave you attempted to do this challenge, Rama? Is it on your blog?? Checking it in a short while. Certainly, these challenges help in ensuring some heightened grey cells activity! :D
No, as I said I could hardly understand what I got, and I don't have the patience to break my head to write a poem on a line, which was beyond my comprehension. I am too old for all this. Maybe if it was a sentence like what you found i might have been tempted to come up with something.
DeleteI was reading the comments in the FB chat on this and some were deciding to take up any random book. So you too can try and pick any random book and take off from the 7th page/7th line of that book!! Go on do it!! It would be fun! :)
DeleteThis is good! And I am tempted to try it out too, after seeing this on so many blogs :)
ReplyDeleteDo that Swaram!! Looking forward to your take on this prompt! :)
DeleteBrilliant first attempt, I don't think you can say poetry and you are like two parallel lines that never meet henceforth. Take a bow Shilpa:)
ReplyDeleteThat's a huge compliment, when it is coming from you who is such a gifted poetess!! Thanks Reshma! :)
DeleteHi Shilpa,
ReplyDeleteIt's great to be at your blog! I can totally relate to the reservations you had about writing poetry. I'm the same.
Your poem, however, was excellent. Well done! It just shows that we can do such things. :-)
Hi Hiten. Welcome to this space. That's true, if you decide to do something and put in efforts, something will definitely shape up. It's all about taking that first step! Isnt' it?? Thanks and glad that you liked this first attempt! :)
DeleteBut in the bond of a man and a wife
ReplyDeleteIt spells strife
And a trouble in paradise. (smiles)
Very nice attempt.
3's a Crowd is about infidelity, so this theme!! :D
DeleteThank you Kavita :)
A wonderful rhyming poem. Versatile!
ReplyDelete:P Thanks Anil :)
DeleteThis is a cool post. Good one for the first time.
ReplyDeleteBtw, Variety reminds me of ..umm.. "Your Blog" :)
Ah! That's sweet of you to say that! Thanks Priyanka :)
DeletePlease don't term this as juvenile.It so wonderfully written that I might enrol myself as your student
ReplyDeleteOh! You are extravagant with your praise, Mr Chowla! :P
DeleteThank you :)
The first four lines were rhyming very well. The fifth line sort of deviated from the effect. The sixth and seventh lines are fine, once again. If you can replace that fifth line with something more rhyming, this will become one excellent poem :)
ReplyDeleteDestination Infinity
I know what you mean, DI! Thanks for the feedback!! :)
DeleteI am liking this 7*7*7*7s :D Tempted to take up the prompt but no.... the present books that I read will bore people
ReplyDeleteYou have to take off from the 7th line of the 7th page of your book, it could be on any subject/genre. Have you seen the links on Corinne's blog? For example, Corrine has written a poem from the book 'The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People'! While Deepa has written a poem from the book, 'Sacred Travels: 275 Places to Find Joy, seek solace, and learn to live more fully'... Go for it Bhagyashree and let us decide whether it is a bore or not! :D
DeleteHaha...loved it, Shilpa. A whole new subject for discussion too. Looking forward to more poetry and not just the spine variety from you. :)
ReplyDeleteYou inspired us to do that, Corinne!! Thank you for activating the latent 'talents' in so many of us!! :))
DeleteI like the poem. It's way too much better than my first English poem. Mine was a super childish awkward rhyme. :P
ReplyDeleteLOL at the way you are describing your first attempt! :D
DeleteNice prompt and an excellent attempt, shilpa. what's more the last few lines are what vijay nagaswami often writes about right? about marital relationships
ReplyDeleteThanks Asha. Yes, the book is about infidelity and marital relationship and this poem was inspired by that! :)
Deletehey, it's pretty good!! Hardly juvenile!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for helping me with my survey, btw!!
Thanks a lot, Roshni, glad you liked it! :)
DeleteOh, pls dont mention, it was my pleasure! :)
That is a good one Shilpa. I love your poem.
ReplyDeleteI had a dream. On July 7 in the horse race course, on the 7th race, horse number 7. Kept coming back again and again in my dream. So I went to the race on July 7th and bet on Horse Number 7 on the 7th race.
That horse came in 7th. Hahaha. So much for my dream.
Thanks SG :)
DeleteOh my!! You had a 7x7x7x7 experience in real life!! And you turned your dream into a reality too!! Amazing!! :)
This made me smile. Keep rhyming!
ReplyDeleteBtw, is writing a poem really so difficult? I feel privileged because I always found rhyming the easiest thing to do.
Lucky you! That's awesome that you can write poems with ease! For me, this was the first time I applied my brains to write a poem, also I dont like poems! :D
DeleteNice poem,specially the first quatrain.
ReplyDeleteThanks Pahul and welcome to this space! :)
DeleteVariety ka Strife se connection bounce mar gaya :P
ReplyDeleteWell Written ma'am. Btw what's spine poetry??
Check my first juvenile at http://surbhibafna.blogspot.com/2011/02/spreading-smiles.html
Oops! Multiple partners in a marriage leads to strife!!
DeleteSpine Poetry is arrangement of book titles and arranging them in clusters so the spines could be read like a sentence(s) or poem. :)
it ain't juvenile shilpa - actually loved it :)
ReplyDeleteThks Priya, glad that you dont think of it as juvenile!! ;)
DeleteLove the idea 777 ;)
ReplyDeleteand nice write shilpa!
Kappu - Happily never after
Thanks Kappu! :)
DeleteIt's good, Shilpa. Not bad at all for a first attempt. I especially liked the last two lines. ;) Nice!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much DC. Happy you liked this first attempt! :)
DeleteSimply unbelievable !!First attempt 'itna sunder hai toh aage kya hoga?' Shippa ,you are a perfectionist. Congrats! would love to see more of it.
ReplyDelete