There’s a fun new competition to enter on the FABO website!
Pop-up Poetry Challenge
With Elena de Roo and Melinda Szymanik
Using any of the starters below, or one of the pictures as inspiration, write a poem no longer than 25 lines. (It can be as short as you want). It’s okay to be inspired by a picture and use one of the starters.
Have fun – there are no rules in poetry! Your poems don’t have to rhyme but they can if you want them to. They don’t have to tell a story or even make sense, unless you want them to. You can have long lines or lines that are just one word or something in the middle. You can even make up new words just because they sound good.
Read your poem out loud — listen to the words and the rhythm they make. How does your poem make you feel? What shape does your poem make on the page?
You have two weeks to write your poem, so there’s no need to rush! Take your time and send us the best poem you can write.
Send your poem to us by 7pm Friday October 1st (NZ time).
You can enter TWO poems (at most).
The winner of the competition will be announced on this website a few days after the competition closes.
Here are some poetry prompts to get you started on your poem – they could be the title, the first line, the last line or somewhere in the middle.
• The last polar bear
• Everything was melting
• I held the golden ticket
• The moon was a frown, upside down
• One cup of plain words
• I climbed until the sky turned inky blue
• It smelled of green
• As quiet as the tiniest whisper
• Like a shiny marble
• The boom of moon tubers*
(*You can change the spelling to “moon tubas” if you prefer).
You must:
1. EITHER use one of the poetry prompt lines somewhere in your poem,
2. OR write a poem using one of the pictures on this page as inspiration.
3. OR you can use BOTH a poetry prompt line and a picture to inspire you.
Fabo Story 