I am always intrigued to try new ways to write poems, so when someone at the NWPStudio space mentioned the form of a paper Cootie Catcher/Origami Fortune Teller to write and share a poem (and gave this one by Leila Chatti as an example), I thought: hmmm.
How would one do that?
Well, after some digging around, I found a helpful website dedicated to Cootie Catchers (gotta love the Web in all of its specific weirdness!) that not only had samples of setting up these childhood games in different themes and content, but also, there was a template you could use to edit with text and image and then download and then fold, and then play.
I wrote an 8 line poem (each line below a number in the paper catcher) and began inviting folks to give me a sequence of numbers from 1-8, and I would use the paper PoemCatcher to share out lines of the poem. Ideally, each sequence creates a new poem (although each of the 8 lines remains the same).
If you want to play, just leave me a comment with a selection of numbers, and I will respond with your poem.
Peace (Paper and Poems),
Kevin
Hello, Kevin!
I would LOVE a poem!!
Please try this combination:
3,2,1,4,8,6,5,7,3
Thank you!!
Steve Peterson
If that’s too long, then 3,1,8,4,3
I’ll go short request, Steve
Clear skies, blue skies
Summer poems
On the tip of the tongue
The day’s only begun
Clear skies, blue skies
I appreciate you playing along!
Love it!!
Has a very hopeful vibe!
How fun, Kevin! My sequence: 3, 5, 1, 7, 9, 2, 6, 4
Clear skies, blue skies
Lounging around
Summer poems
Tasting the words
On the tip of the tongue
Catching rays of sun
Like writers of young
The day’s only begun
Thanks for playing!
Kevin