Get Your Golden Shovel! No. 01 Round-Up

Last Saturday I posted the first “Get Your Golden Shovel” prompt as a collaborative project for our writing community. In this round-up, I share my golden shovel poem as well as those that were contributed by the community.

What’s a golden shovel poem? It’s a poetic form originally created by Terrance Hayes. Check out the rules here.

I want to give a big thanks to each of you that were willing to give this first experiment a try:

@gigglingfattie (No Love For Fatties)

Kathleen

Edward V. Fuller

@midlifecatlady64 (MidLife Cat Lady)

Sam “Goldie” Kirk

Eric Drury (The Thoughtful Beggar)

The Dreamgirl Writes


Golden Shovel No. 01

“Time says hush. By the gong of time you live.”

The Gong of Time by Carl Sandburg (Honey and Salt)

Hurry, Hurry, Hush

By Monty Vern

Rushing waters of our time;

Ebbing tide says

Hurry, hurry, hush.

Un-lived memories race by;

Yanked away by the

Quickening gong

Of

Our impatient time;

Shh! Will you?

Let’s pause a moment to live.


Guests’ Poems:

It’s just now about that time

He leans close as he says

Drowsiness fills the apartment with a…

by No Love For Fatties

It is time.

No one says

“Hush”

by the by.

Even the

ringing gong

of

So much time.

Not even you,

by the days you

live.

by Kathleen

Pangs mean it is time

The body says

Now hush

We are close by

Near to the

reverberating gong

Thinking of

passed time

with you

Honoring you by how we live

by Edward V. Fuller

Ah, The days of Time

The wind, it Says

It’s time to Hush

And listen, By

Focusing on The

Sound of the church Gong

Which reminds you Of

How much Time

There is Left

For you to Live.

by MidLife Cat Lady

‘There’s no time,’

she says.

‘Hush,’

I reply and just walk on by.

Because…

by Sam “Goldie” Kirk

In youth we confidently flirt with time

As it goes on we must do what it says

Wrinkles gained with a quieted…

by Eric Drury (The Thoughtful Beggar)

And here is one with a twist on the form (after all, creativity rules over rules):

Friends are chosen family, so choose wisely

For they come to know you intimately…

by The Dreamgirls Writes

How cool was that! I love seeing all of the different takes on this. If you want to give this line a try feel free to leave your poem in the comments below (or link your post to this one).

Thanks again to each of the guest contributors. Stay tuned for next prompt coming soon. Everyone is welcome to join in.

Be well,

Monty

26 Comments

  1. gigglingfattie says:

    Oooo so much fun!!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Catherine says:

    Completely missed this. But remedied right away and wrote a post. Hehe. A poem, of course. And in my impulsiveness, I forgot a word! Of course, but that too was rectified immediately. Poem’s on my blog. Should also link to this post. Great challenge. Lots of fun. Thank you for this. xx

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Monty Vern says:

      Awesome!!!! Off to check it out now. Thanks for joining.

      Like

  3. Kathleen says:

    Love the diversity!

    Like

  4. This was so much fun to do!
    I think I read the rules wrong lol, because you quoted mine as an unexpected twist!
    It was fun nevertheless, can’t wait for the next one!

    Like

    1. Monty Vern says:

      Loved your piece regardless. The next one will be fun. Some really colorful words! The post is already up!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you!! Already checked it out.. my post will be out in a couple of days :))

        Liked by 1 person

  5. But lol I just read the rules properly , what an oversight!

    Like

    1. Monty Vern says:

      Haha. No worries! It would have been impossible I think to have met all the prompts by following the rules strictly. It called for creativity!

      Liked by 1 person

  6. I feel the sun shines just a little brighter when you do pause and live in the moment. I liked the smart use of ‘of’ as the entire line.

    I see Kathleen did the same. Is she your other half? As she doesn’t seem to have a blog linked?

    Good stuff! I’m excited for the next prompt!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Monty Vern says:

      Kathleen is my editor (and mom)…hehe.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. A personal editor? How awesome is that?!

        Like

      2. Monty Vern says:

        Hehe. Absolutely wonderful. My published books would have been a disaster without her and all in exchange for a editor’s copy. In reality it’s more proof-reading then editing as I like to keep my “quirky” voice which is grammatically challenged.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. The time poem has me thinking more about time and how I use it. Cool prompts here Monty.

    Ryan

    Liked by 1 person

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