The smell of autumn is definitely in the air! Time to bring out the pumpkin spice…
But NOT as a cereal. Give me a good pumpkin chocolate chip cookie, instead; please!
©2022 Chel Owens
Friday Photo
Tag Pumpkin spice
WINNER of the Weekly Terrible Poetry Contest
The world thought it had experienced the worst in pumpkin spice once cinnamon and cloves crossed over into Cheerios, Twinkies, and SPAM. If only the general population had anticipated this week’s terrible poetry…
Of which, at long last, there is a winner. And that is:
Spicing the Pumpkin
Autumn aroma
fills the air with Halloween
making one nauseous:
too much candy and chasing
it with ten beers then puking.
Congratulations, Susan! You are the most terrible poet of the week!
Everyone who entered brought their worst. I had such trouble choosing from all the wonderful, beautiful, bad poetry. Susan’s poem won after my third reading of the entries, and my deciding it made me cringe the most.
Since the theme was a tanka, hers stood out as one that appeared to be a typical tanka yet was most definitely not. She made me think it a serious sample with her “Autumn aroma” beginning; but, by the end, we were puking. Great work!
Even more pumpkin spice is to be had! Read the rest of the poems below:
A Coffee Snob Tanka
by Heather Dawn
Pumpkin spice coffee
Is the worst kind of coffee…
When from Tim Hortons,
Or other fast food places.
But I like it at Starbucks.
—–
Something spicy in my pumpkin
Pumpkin spice! Pumpkin
spice! Syllable counting in
Germanic languag-
es is a meaningless pro-
position. It works in the
Romance languages
however, where syllables
matter. Which is pos-
sibly why we eat pumpkin
as a vegetable over
here, and to think of
it as being something in a
dessert is a fair-
ly repugnant thought! This then
is my triptych tanka. Yeah!
—–
Untitled piece
by Deb Whittam
Undernourished, the
Pantry’s bare, no there’s something
right up in the back
Relief … what is it? Let me
Reach … Pumpkin spice, hunger strike
—–
Love Tanka
by Joem18b
oh my dearest love
i want to give you my heart
but how to do it
rip it out hand it over
or sprinkle with pumpkin spice
—–
Pumpkin Spice (A Poem)
Vanilla sweet spice
Pumpkin puree and whipped cream
What is that brown stuff?
I can’t be sure but It might
Be nutmeg or cinnamon
—–
And Then There Were Six
by LWBUT
“There’s a new spice in
town”. “I don’t want to hear it.”
“and it’s Pumpkin Spice!”
“So tell me what you want. ” “What??”
“What you really, really want.”
—–
Yuumy
October oraange
English muuffins flavored sooo
Puumpkins grow on vines
Lattes and coffee oooh my
Hot Pumpkin spice soups are too
—–
Untitled piece
by Gary
sunset orange with explosive hot red
unsettling and overpowering
angry and sickly sweet arrogance
rule spiced by lies
sick of Pumpkin Heads presidency
—–
Pumpkin Spice, A Terrible Tanka
Pumpkin spice is great,
I mean it tastes really good
Add some to coffee,
Or that milky thing, latte?
Then drink it down, no regrets!
—–
Untitled piece
by Cheryl
Pumpkin latte eww
Pumpkin soup would be better
Pumpkin candles nice
Everything October likes
Carving a pumpkin is fun.
—–
Terrible Cook. Look. Worse poet.
Peel it. Slice it up
A cup. Of sugar or two
You. Boil it to hell.
For smell? Scented candles get.
Yet more spice. Pumpkin slice. Nice.
—–
Tanka about Pumpkin Spice
Pumpkin Spice is nice
I’m told by people who drink
overpriced coffees
I’ve never tried it and won’t
I’m too judgmental of them
—–
Hopefully, we’ve not put anyone off their favorite fall treat. Thank you to all the fantastic poets who entered; come back around 10 a.m. MST for next week’s prompt.
Madame Abject Muse: D. Wallace Peach created this graphic that you can use (if you want) for a badge of honor as the winner:
The Weekly Terrible Poetry Contest
Greetings, mortals, and welcome to the Weekly Terrible Poetry Contest #45!
Sometimes as writers we take ourselves too seriously. We take writing too seriously. Poetry is the worst medium for that, attracting snooty nose-raises and accusations of not being in tune with raw Nature. So; take off the shackles of your beret, read my basic outline here, and live a little!
Here are the specifics for this week:
- The type of poetry I’m interested in is a tanka. Colleen Chesebro runs this form (and a few others) every week for her popular Tanka Tuesday challenge.
A tanka is very much like a haiku, but uses the format 5/7/5/7/7.
On top of that, our Topic is PUMPKIN SPICE. - What’s the length? I already told you: it’s a syllabic pattern of 5/7/5/7/7.
- Rhyming is not allowed. Scented candles are.
- The most important part is to make it terrible. Madame Chesebro herself must apply to WordPress to have my site banned from the internet, burned, and buried with cloves to ensure we never attempt to write tanka poetry again.
- Pumpkins and their harvest seasonings can stay rated at PG or tastier.
You have till 8:00 a.m. MST next Friday (October 4) to submit a poem.
Use the form below if you want to be anonymous for a week.
If not, and for a more social experience, include your poem or a link to it in the comments. I highly recommend commenting and not just depending on linkbacks if you write one.
Have fun!
Photo credit: Heidi Kaden
Chel Owens 