Happy Poetry Month!
These fun little poems sprang out of a morning practice of playing Wordle on my phone, taking a screenshot of my sequence of guesses, and then sharing them with my marriage partner who also shared a screenshot. Because we enjoyed seeing each other’s word choices and strategies, we usually bantered back and forth via text about it. This often lead us to create sentences or little scenarios with the words. On those days when it took me five or six guesses to solve the puzzle, I made more associative and poetic connections between the words — obviously because more words but also repeated letters in the correct location opened up alliterations or strings of words that rhymed. So on March 29th, after an unlucky sequence of six guesses, I wrote my first Wordle poem. This week, I’ve given myself an unusually (and unintentionally) unlucky/lucky number of words with which to work!
Here are the few loose rules I follow:
- I begin with my usual starter word: HEART.
- I follow the same sequence of words in the poem as I did to solve Wordle.
- I limit extra words, using only a few to flesh out the meaning/description and to improve the rhythm.
- I’ll occasionally change the tense of a Wordle word when it makes sense grammatically.
- I add a title.
The plan is to post a new set of weekly Wordle poems every Sunday at least through April, if not beyond.
Sunday, March 29
Foolish
My heart shown
Like a child
I chucked my pride and chuffed satisfaction
to be your chump

Monday, March 30
Hungry and longing
My heart swept away
with the table scraps of fish filet
taken with hunger unmet
Fast as a comet

Tuesday, March 31
Dirty things
Oh, heart
Flask strapped to my thigh
as I wade through your swamp

Wednesday, April 1
Attention
Your heart, so noisy
Not picky
Ready to chase in a jiffy
some new filly
Ah, to feel so fizzy

Thursday, April 2
Ode to a rake
Dear Heart,
Are you a lover?
A poser of poses and positions?
A sower of seed?
I wait for your sober return

Friday, April 3
How to order a burnt scone
Today I’ll have
Your heart shaped scone
with a side of snide
Singed is fine, thank you

Saturday, April 4
What About Love? / Acts of service
Heart songs playing on my phone
Caulk gun poised
I aim for the gap between basin
and sandy grout
