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Wednesday Writing Prompt: Boing! Bang! Boom! By Rochelle Melander

MC900370532My 9th grade English teacher taught me to listen to and love the sound of words. She loved the way these words rolled off her tongue: “garage” and “gasoline.” Her favorite words conjured up memories of Saturday mornings at the gas station with my grandfather. I loved the free Sugar Daddy caramel pops they gave to kids but wasn’t fond of the smells. So I found other words I liked: calliope, kaleidoscope, and calligraphy.

As I began exploring words and their sounds, I fell in love with onomatopoeia—words that imitate the sound or action they represent. Clap. Cuckoo. Crackle. On Saturday morning, to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s 109th birthday, I had the joy of teaching a writing workshop about onomatopoeia poetry to young people at the Milwaukee Public Library.

Midway through the morning, a teenaged girl brought her six-year-old sister to the class. When I invited her to write, she said, “No thanks, I’ll just sit here and watch.” After I’d read several poems from Bobbi Katz’s wonderful book A Rumpus of Rhymes, I noticed the teenager grabbing paper and a pencil. I tried to ignore her, but I had to ask: “Are you going to write a poem?”

“It sounds like fun,” she answered.

I agree!

Try this:

+Spend a day listening to sounds and writing down the words you would use to convey them. Does your bacon sizzle when you cook breakfast? What sound does your car make when you start it? Does your cat meow or growl or something entirely different?

+If you get stuck or need more inspiration, find a site that plays animal sounds and listen to them. (You can hear a northern cardinal call at the Old Farmer’s Almanac or tune into a whole host of owl sounds at The Owl Pages. Write down the words the sounds inspire.

+If you need MORE words, just search for “onomatopoeia words” online. You’ll find lists of words. Write down the ones you like.

+Write a poem about a normal but noisy daily practice using onomatopoeia words.

If you need more inspiration, take a look at the poems written by the young people at the library:

Pop pop pop.

Can you hear

that pop corn

pop the salty

taste on my

crazy silly tongue?

—Milena Whitlow

 

Buzz, buzz, buzz. The buzzing

bee flies through the sky I don’t know why

he went flying through the sky. It’s winter.

I wouldn’t dare to fly in this air.

—Ilijah Taylor-Jordan

 

As the Wind scurried and rustles out with a booming loud voice yelled, “Lion come out!” With a yawn and a scratch and an angry moan, the Lion said, “Come now, wind won’t leave me alone. I have a tight schedule of sleeping and snore. Then when I’m done, I’ll have feasting galore.” The Wind was so angry he blew up a storm which surprisingly to the Lion was really quite warm. Whoosh! Bing! Zap! Kapow! Oh the old Lion was really up now. With an open of eyes and a raise of the brow, the poor Lion was in for it now. The Wind’s body was lanky yet stiff then the wind blew Lion off a mountain. Now what happened to the lion? So poor oh so sad that Lion was no more.

—Awesome Herring

 

Rattle

Swish, Whack

Scratch, Swoosh, Thump

Froosh, Swizzle, Sputter, Plunk

Snake

—Livy Maillet

 

Rattle Rattle Tic Toc the shoes tapped.

Sizz, sizz the snake went.

Whizz, whizz the wind went.

Thump squash the window said.

—Tamarra Torres

 

Ice Cream

Lick, smack, yummy, yum, yum

Slurp, bite, bur, and gone.

—Abigail Fuchs

 

Clank, clank, clank goes the bell on the cloud

Chew, chew, chew goes the cat eating chow

Ring, ring, ring goes the bell on the door

Snore, snore, snore goes me when I’m bored.

—Jose Renden III

 

Woof Arf Yip!

The sounds I hear

From stuffed animals

They can’t sit any longer

They walk around

While I sleep

Trying to wake me up

They try to be quiet

But they can’t hold any longer

I don’t think I can sleep

Boy what a noise.

If they could sleep

They wouldn’t make a sound

I’d be very happy

But now it’s time for them to sleep

So go to bed tonight.

—John Graham

 

During the night while crickets chirp

My sleeping sister lets out a burp

Casey my dog awakes and makes a loud howl.

I go in the bathroom and plop on a towel.

Sitting in the cold my teeth chatter

My dad comes home, falls, and I hear the loud clatter.

I wake up in the morning and my back makes a crackle.

During the night my nightmare included a jackal.

—Holly Patterson

 

My own poem can make you itch

and ache and make you shake

like a wild tickle talker by the lake.

You can even scratch and scriggle

Splatter and splitter.

—Sophia

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