I didn’t get much writing done in October. I probably won’t get much writing done in November, either. But I keep plugging away. Slow and steady, right? Today’s poem is my response to Michelle Heidenrich Barnes‘s October(!) ditty challenge from Calef Brown. He asked us to “Write a poem or a story about two anthropomorphized objects.”
I thought about this for days, but kept coming up empty. Then, on Halloween, it finally came to me. I have a drawer full of pins to match almost every book and subject from the third grade curriculum I taught for many years. I don’t wear them too much any more, but I have a cat pin I often wear on Halloween. Bingo! Finally, several drafts later, here is my still-needs-work-but-it’s-come-a-long-way draft.
Forever Friends?
Trapped inside a box of baubles,
An enamel mouse and rhinestone cat
Grew restless and began to squabble
On their cushiony, cottony mat.
“If I had legs, I’d crouch and pounce,
Then grab your shimmering tail.
You’d be completely trounced,”
that feline loudly railed.
“If I had legs, I’d dart and dash,
Evading your golden claws,
zipping past you in a flash,”
the wee brave mouse guffawed.
“If only we could reach the rim,”
bemoaned the paralyzed pair.
“We’d be free to stretch our limbs,
and breathe in pure fresh air.
“This lid won’t budge; we’re out of luck.
Why don’t we make amends?
No lark for us. We’re truly stuck.
Let’s bury our grudge and be friends.”
© Catherine Flynn, 2018
Thank you, Michelle and Calef for this thought-provoking challenge! Please be sure to visit Linda Baie at Teacher Dance for the Poetry Friday Roundup!
Reading to the Core 
Catherine, I love it! From he cushiony, cottony mat to the resignation that they might as well be friends. Great voices for these two. If you work on this more, I want to see the next version.
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Makes me smile.
So adorable a solution in cramped quarters 🙂
Brava!
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Cute! Sometimes you just have to face the facts when you’re stuck!
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I have so many pins, don’t know what to do with them! What a fabulous idea for this challenge, Catherine. I really think this would be a very fun picture book. What if & If only are right there in that box with the dear cat and mouse. Love it!
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What a great response to a challenging challenge and such fun to read aloud! I love that first verse—bauble and squabble is inspired. Well done!
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This is adorable! I love your whimsical poem and your photo made me chuckle with delight!
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I love the two characters you’ve created in this poem. That October challenge was quite a challenge. I think you’ve pulled it off.
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I love how the squabble turns into a truce. What a perfect pair!
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Pure delight!!! Love your pins — hopefully you’ll write poems about some of the others in your collection. 🙂
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This is so very clever! And I love the accompanying photo!
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What a charming poem, Catherine! I love that it ended on a note of reconciliation, too. And I love that these two pins are part of a collection – lots of further inspiration, there.
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Oh I do hope the truce lasts, Catherine! I think if I opened the box my “school” jewelry is in, I’d find a string of no-longer lighting up holiday bulb necklaces inadvertently strangling a witch, a gingerbread man, and a leprechaun. I better check on them, LOL!
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Such a fun poem Catherine, love that they want to get together by the end of the poem. They have so much personality–delightful, thanks! And thanks for sharing your inspiring pins too.
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Your poem was worth the wait, Catherine! Yay you for seeing this challenge through! I’m not sure if the truce will last or not, but doesn’t seem like they have much choice but to make the best of it. Would you believe, before I decided to write about Tick and Tock, I almost wrote about a cat and mouse too? I was inspired by this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/engyles/19869283846/ Cute, huh. 🙂
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