Poetry Scavenger Hunt

Thought I'd do something a little different today.  It's the 4th of July and this takes me back to childhood.  Aside from the love of BBQ, Fireworks consuming the sky and getting together with family friends we didn't get to see all too often, I remember how I, and the other children, loved to play the scavenger hunt game.  We'd go to a friend of my parents house, and the had an enormous amount of land.  The adults would scatter trinkets, doodads, treats, small change and what nots throughout the property and then we'd get a list of what to find.

It was very similar to the Easter egg hunt, but different in there was enough for everyone to complete their scavenger lists, which, some of the children didn't wind up finishing, too which I still wonder, if the parents ever found all those hidden items, if they're still lingering around, waiting for someone to find them.

Anyhow, so this is where I'm going with today.  A Poetic Scavenger Hunt, of sorts.   To read the poem, click on each link, follow the directions, extract the word, words or lines and continue until the poem is constructed in it's collected entirety.

Stanza Two, Line 2, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Words,

First Stanza, First Line, Second, Third and Fourth Words,

Second Stanza, Seventh Line, First, Second, Third and Fourth Words-


Stanza Two, Third Line-

Second Stanza, Line Two-

Ninth and Eight words, respectively, from Finis,

Stanza Five, Line One

Fourth Stanza, First Line/line 4 word six (insert Comma), word seven

First Stanza, Fourth Line

Third Stanza, 2nd Line minus 1st word,(Insert Comma between 2nd & 3rd)

Last Stanza, Second Last Line, First four words.




First Line,

Second Stanza, Sixth Line (Omitting First Two Words)-

Fourth Stanza, Lines One and Two,

Second Part, Third Last Line,

Third Stanza, Fifth Line…

Last Two lines.



Third Stanza, Last Line,

Fourth Stanza, First Line,

Eleventh Stanza, First Line-

Stanza Two, Last Line, Words Two, Three, Four and Five,

Fourth Stanza, Second Line, First Three Words,

Sixth Stanza, Third Line,

Second Stanza, Sixth Line minus First Word,

Third Line, Third and Fourth Words, Fourth line minus final 2 words


What a wonderful poem, If I do say so myself, which is even more amazing, is that I didn't even write a single word of it.  All I did is conduct this poetic orchestra, you, all of you poets, you are the instruments, and all the varied sounds that can and will often flow in such wonderfully unpredictable manners.  That, if I know anything at all, in a nutshell, politics or country aside, is Independence personified.

Thanks to all the wonderful poets I included in this piece, I could have gone on much longer, and would've liked to include many, many others, just theme that presented itself didn't mesh with the pieces I read today or it was simply a case of this project becoming a never-ending piece, as it quite could've been.


Well, just to update the Scavenger Hunt posting.  Hope everyone had fun interacting with the directions to form the poem, and hopefully everyone took the time to read all these fantastic poets I linked up to for this event.  Perhaps I'll do another one of these one day, it was fun to create.

Anyhow, seeing some time's past, I thought I'd enter the poem in it's entirety here, which should've been what you came up with while participating with the directions above.  Again, thanks for the positive feedback.

I wait to see,
A beautiful thing
dressed only in light

To fall from above
to wash my one wish-
-from my flesh,
with traces
that will be restoration and
high jumpin'/stars, trapped
on a rainsheened
door, hiding a naked shell
where all lies end

I listen to the silence
and sit in the shade of elms,
the sound of water over stones and pebbles
in and of itself,
heal this pain that destroys me daily
of innocence long forgotten

Between stillness and monsoon
my soul poured out,
bringing forth ease-

A cloud burst of sighs
salted our tongues
and swoons in small sweet gasps,
crying out
to express what flowed in my heart