Sunday, July 5, 2009

Project Verse: CURVEBALL!

CURVEBALL ASSIGNMENT




Competitors, did you really think you were going to get a week off?

You see a picture of country music legend Dolly Parton, because she is the focus of your curveball assignment. If you don't know anything about Dolly, well, I think that is about to change.

You are writing a poem paying tribute to Dolly for your curveball assignment. You are free to explore any part of Dolly's life in your poem: Dolly the Singer / Dolly the Songwriter / Dolly the Actress / Dolly the Entrepreneur.

You have 75 lines or less to write your Dolly Tribute poem.

No form constraints, but there are restrictions.

RESTRICTIONS:
You must use lyrics from at least two songs written by Dolly.
Lyrics from "I Will Always Love You," "Jolene," and "Coat of Many Colors" are off limits.
Using Dolly lyrics in the poem's title or as an epigraph won't suffice.
At the bottom of your poem you need to identify the songs used.


There are two guest judges for the curveball assignment. One guest judge is critiquing the poetics of your work, and she happens to be a Dolly fan as well. The second guest judge is an expert of all things Dolly, and he will judge your poem on its worthiness to be called a Dolly tribute poem. Tune in Wednesday to find out their identities!

By the way, competitors, I am working on a project with the first guest judge mentioned. We're in search of 50 poems paying tribute to Dolly. The winner of the curve ball assignment will have his/her poem be part of the 50 poem project.

Make it work, and make it work well.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm gonna have nightmares of Dolly with a hermit crab shell.

Emily said...

God love ya', Dustin! I can't wait to write this poem.

Unknown said...

Oh my - what a challenge!

niina said...

A true challenge.

Emily said...

Hey y'all-- DP sang some creepy ass tunes... please do check out, if only for fun, 'A Letter to Heaven', during which a young motherless girl asks an old man at a diner to please write to her mother in heaven, whom she misses tremendously. Old dude obliges, and shortly thereafter the young lass is walking across the street when she is MOWED DOWN by an errant driver and killed, thus fulfilling her wish. Wow.