A golden shovel takes an existing short poem, and uses every word as the end of each line for a new poem
Watermelons, by Charles Simic
Green Buddha
On the fruit stand.
We eat the smile
And spit out the teeth.
Golden Shovel, after Charles Simic “Watermelons”
I lazed on the lawn, summer green
Calm and peaceful, an urban Buddha
Eyes closed, nothing on
My mind, just enjoying the
Moment, this day, this sun, the fruit
Of nature. Feeling its rays, I stand,
Arise without thinking, realising we
Are one; nature, earth, people; we eat
Of the soil and feed the
Soil; reaping what we sow, every smile
Breeding a dozen more, joy spreading and
Growing, an infection of hope that spits
On salty pavements, letting out
The poison of doubt, and the
Self-constraints of “can’t”, through newly-revealed teeth.

Alistair Lane performing at The Maze…
Love it. Never heard of Golden Shovels before (sounds like a kind of cross between gardening and golden showers, which would be interesting…)
It works really well – I prefer it to the source 😉
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Thank you… I’d never heard of these either, before writing this at one of Leanne’s workshops. I like the challenge of them, obviously 🙂
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Excellent. I’ve never heard of a golden shovel either so it’s a first for me.
I rather like the original, it’s very descriptive – and true!
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It’s wonderful, isn’t it? I am a fan of shorter poetry…especially evocative work like this 🙂
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A great talent to tell so much in so few words.
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Rather confusing at first, then wildly clever! Fine job. Oh, and why couldn’t we hear/watch the performance?
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I haven’t actually performed this one yet! All in good time 🙂
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v clever; I did wonder where the teeth would end up but you channelled your inner dentist very neatly…
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I did write it at tooth hurry…
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Hurty, not hurry….
Damn predictive text ruining my shit jokes grumble grumble
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I know, it’s a bum, isn’t it?
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What a great exercise and a challenge. First time hearing of it and love the result!
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Thanks Meg. I got on much better with this form than the abecedarian one at the same poetry workshop …may share that one next week!
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Never heard of that one either! So cool – I’ll be looking forward to it!
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Wow, Al. I’m so impressed! You pulled that off naturally and beautifully.
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Thanks D… Was shaking like a leaf up there!
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Brilliant! 🙂
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Aw ,thank you! ♥
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This is amazing and I learned something new. Beautifully done.
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Thank you, ex. Really appreciate that. I’d never heard of this form before the workshop where this was written either. It appeals to the problem-solving part of my poet brain… 🙂
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Really? You picked up the style really quick, then. That’s amazing – I love the combination of logic and art.
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Thank you… It appeals to my semi logical brain! (I got hooked on writing haiku for about a year for the same reason 😁)
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