I'd Read Your Grocery List
Challenge? Get Your Challenge!
A couple months ago, a friend told me he'd read my grocery list at this point. And then he decided to turn that statement into a challenge. (I may have suggested it indirectly, but, I ask you, who remembers these things?)
Anyway, it's his fault.
So, I wrote a grocery list poem. You can find the link to my result at the end of this article.
I hear you asking, "Who is this friend of whom you speak? May we know his name?" And since you have asked so kindly, I shall tell you: the idea was Mesh's and if you do not know him, please go to his profile this instant and bask the genius that is his poetry. Do it right now.
Okay. Back to the challenge.
The Rules and Little Tricks
The challenge is, simply, to write a grocery list but make it poetic in some way. You could rhyme the words on the list, or group them by mood, meal, or occasion. The point is to tell a story, however small or vague.
The rule? No context, just dates and time and lists.
The thing I struggled the most with was readability and counteracting boredom. In the end, I just decided to ignore those concerns, and write something that made sense to me.
I did take a few liberties on "no context," though. Strikethrough text was a trick that made me gasp with delight when I thought of it. Dates and time stamps allowed for some freedom in implied context.
Other ways to "cheat" could be in the number of lists, which might be significant, or the amount of time between lists, even the time of day. This last one is interesting because the time could refer to when it was written or when the writer went to the store. Late night grocery shopping could say a lot about someone's mental state, for example. Emojis came in handy too, but I didn't use a lot of them. Perhaps you want to use a whole bunch to show mood changes or demonstrate doodling.
The Purpose of the Challenge
I view this challenge as a fun, yet sneaky, way to practice showing without telling. Its restrictive style requires that you must be intentional with what you can use in order to tell a story in a non-traditional way.
And yes, I know, poems aren't exactly stories. But let me tell you something I learned at school: A successful story doesn't need a beginning, middle, and end. It should, however, end in a different place than it started.
Now, this place could be emotional or spiritual, physical, or mental. The point is that something or someone changed over the course of the story. And the same is true for poetry (to an extent). Perhaps the speaker changes their mind on something, feels differently than they did initially, adds context to the opening premise, etc. I think the difference between how prose would do this versus poetry simply comes down to what else is in the piece. Are we left thinking more about what happened or more about how we're feeling?
So, I propose that a limited form like a grocery list is a perfect playground to practice poetic storytelling, which will translate into other poetic forms, and prose, too.
Logistics
Now, this is an unofficial challenge, so I really shouldn't put a deadline on it. At the same time, I know that we Vocalists tend to read and forget. So, I'll put a deadline on it just to put some kind of fire under you.
The deadline is Saturday November 18, 2023.
Mark it on your calendar!
The "results" (November 19) will simply be a showcase of my favorites, plus the submission with the most reads and one I feel is an under-appreciated gem. It could be a total of 3 that I spotlight; it could be 10. Just depends.
This means that the challenge is open to everyone who finds it! My one stipulation to that statement is that I will not consider entries that spam the comments nor that plagiarize anybody anywhere from any time (yes, this includes any kind of AI influence).
I thought about offering a tip for the piece or pieces that absolutely blow(s) my mind. But I'd rather get your input first.
- What are your thoughts on cash prizes for unofficial challenges?
- Does a reward make you feel worse if you lose than if there hadn't been one at all?
- Do you find that writing for a prize creates needless competition and takes away from the fun?
Let me know!
I'll leave you with this: Please don't submit more than 2 poems to this challenge. It will make judging much harder, especially if I'm already a fan of your writing and you send me like 5. How fair would that be to my fangirl brain? 2 is the limit to my generosity, for the sake of my sanity!
PS: I will not be considering my own or Mesh's poem for spotlight in the results. That seems unfair since we did this on our own time and I decided to set a deadline for the rest of you.
Let the games begin!
***
My poem:
About the Creator
Mackenzie Davis
“When you are describing a shape, or sound, or tint, don’t state the matter plainly, but put it in a hint. And learn to look at all things with a sort of mental squint.” Lewis Carroll
Find me elsewhere.
Copyright Mackenzie Davis.
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Comments (46)
I may have been editing when you checked my link; I hope you found it. Thank you, ROCK
I love that this really challenges metaphors. Last entry! https://vocal.media/poets/compassion-d11i20qhu
This was fun! Got me thinking creatively about food metaphors. Love the inspiration! https://vocal.media/poets/penicillin-im1id0bf6
https://vocal.media/stories/my-mindful-list Getting a real kick out of this challenge everyone!
About five days ago I put this up but I don't know if you saw the notification from the other story so I thought I would put it up here as well :) Even if I missed the cutoff this way, I still hope you enjoy it :) https://vocal.media/poets/a-year-in-notes#comment-3aa3bb2c-9083-42ad-8589-b64e54cd5229
This is my second entry, I will preface this with all the apologies! https://vocal.media/poets/hopelesss
You asked for it, you got it, Mackenzie. I'm still not sure about it but Vocal went ahead & published it, so here it is: https://vocal.media/poets/one-last-supper
Finally finished mine 😅 It's been in the making for a couple weeks. https://vocal.media/poets/humble-hankerings
Oh, so exciting!
Back with my next entry!! I tried to follow the rules more closely on this one but still didn’t quite manage to😂 https://vocal.media/poets/staying-w54tj0htd Thanks again for the challenge Mackenzie!
I done another, but different https://vocal.media/poets/vicissitudes
https://vocal.media/poets/otherwise-engaged Someone isn’t having a good month … Lol
This is such a cool idea! 😎 Thank you for creating a fun challenge! https://vocal.media/poets/chloe-s-grocery-lists
I had fun with this. I also stressed about it. This was weirdly hard but also fun. I think every writer should try it - it's weird activities like this that take us out of our comfort zone and inspire us in strange ways. https://vocal.media/poets/mom-biz-matriarch-life#comment-ba3fb7e2-d075-4f85-81ff-752f31356351 Now that I've done this, I need to go make a list of what to do for a Dungeons and Dragons-inspired catering business. Thank you! <3
Love this! Here's mine: https://vocal.media/poets/plan-b-erwc0t71
Finally reading what this is all about after reading someone’s ‘killer’ entry! Such a unique idea. 👏👏
Here we go - https://vocal.media/poets/of-all-the-money-that-e-er-i-had-i-spent-it-in-good-company
Mine - a little poetic licence with the rules perhaps. Perhaps I shall go puritanical for another effort. https://vocal.media/poets/fucking-badgers
Thanks for your challenge… here’s my non-compliant attempt 😵💫! https://vocal.media/poets/my-perfect-place
Here’s my entry. At first I was like what? Then I’m actually overwhelmed with ideas. This was the first. :( And as for the cash. Honestly I’m a poor creator and I I would never expect anyone to pay out of their pocket. I couldn’t so why would I expect it?! I’m just happy to have writing prompts and fun engagement ❤️ hope you like it. https://vocal.media/poets/long-weekend-ugc30ajr
I am not sure this counts...lol. It's more broadly shopping lists...anyway...sorry in advance for the...well you'll see https://vocal.media/poets/the-devil-is-in-the-details-kzy0b8a
I dunno if this counts. I'll let You be the judge of that, Mackenzie. https://vocal.media/poets/a-whole-lot-for-one
Not any entry really, just a slightly more *positive take 🤍 https://vocal.media/poets/multi-culture-9t18i0ml0
I mainly use emojis to spot the stanzas up. Hopefully there will be a time when I don’t have to do that any more. I don’t have the original paper, but I used my reciept to get me started https://vocal.media/poets/haiku-trip-to-lidl If the person can afford cash prizes to people, then that’s cool. And it’s okay if they can’t. It wouldn’t effect me entering the challenge. Writing for a prize dosen’t really take away the fun. It’s just another way to stretch creative muscles.
Okay, this sound interesting. I like to think that I'm game. Though, when I go grocery shopping I tend not to write down a list but think about my pantry and refrigerator more often than not. My thoughts on cash prizes for unofficial challenges is that they do provide a lot more incentive to get the gears turning for the content creation of certain genres of work. Take a look at Matthew Fromm's fantasy fiction challenge, Heather Hubler's write me a letter challenge, Mother Comb's Limerick Challenge, and now HandsomeLouiiThePoet's anti-bullying challenge. Content creation gears get turning as twists to old ideas for fuel get burning. With a reward present if You don't win a reward or even a form of recognition it does make the process of losing a bit more difficult naturally. Nobody wants to lose but everybody wants to win, however those are two desires are in direct opposition to one another. In a world of winners there has to be losers, and vice versa. When it comes to not winning, especially for the official challenges, it's trying to figure out what didn't work for the contest and what did work and hopefully trying to apply that to the next contest for entries. This is coming from a dude who entered 9 stories into an official fantasy fiction challenge and over 30 haikus for the time haiku challenge. I get the point of trying a variety of options and hoping something sticks and still falling more than short of the goal. Since words are meant to paint pictures whenever I lost I asked myself, "What is it about my picture they didn't like? Was it enjoyable? Was it clear? Did it leave them wanting more? Did it stir their emotions? etc." When it comes to a lot of writing, especially for competitions, impact is key. Not shock value. Impact... Does competing for financial prizes remove the fun of the competition? Yes, but not as much as it increases it. When a financial incentive is provided it provides a bigger ceiling for more of a high, but also deepens the floor for crashing upon when one does not win. Another thing is that since when a prize is involved, people want to ensure that they're following the rules as strictly as possible. Hence their creativity may be initially stifled, but it must grow within a certain direction geared towards the contest's limitations. Especially since if an exception is made to the rules it might be viewed as a form of favoritism. Which might make a competition feel pointless. Why enter is a winner has already been decided, or if the winner is granted access for not following the rules but the work of others would be rejected upon submission? Does the fun get taken away? Partially. Does it get increased? Yes, it certainly does. However what is lost is never gained, as what is gained was never lost.