What the Dickens? (Bookstains Poetry Challenge)
Lynda has issued a new poetry challenge prompt via Bookstains!
Click on the image to learn more about the challenge…

What the Dickens?
You’ve made me dream of London
Industrial age, revolution
Insider’s eye to factory life
Catherine and 10 children
Iconic characters, Twist and Scrooge
Pickwick, Drood, a tale of two
Bleak house, Hard Times, Our Mutual Friend
Great Expectations the masters reread
Mary died held in your arms
Blaming self for sisters’ charms
Breaking hearts, too much your own
No price is worth a bitter throne
To students of novels you wrote our book
Your body of work, which screen and stage took
Each night before Christmas your genius I see
Tiny Tim’s blessing broadcast on TV
_______________________________
Would you like to hear this poem read?
November 22, 2010 at 11:10 am
Hey this is great Adam! You have fitted so many characters as well as the author and his family into this poem! Well done! I’m putting this on the page now!
the last two lines really conjure up the spirit of what Christmas should be;-
Each night before Christmas your genius I see
Tiny Tim’s blessing broadcast on TV
November 22, 2010 at 11:18 am
Thank you, Lynda, for your kind words and excellent ideas for poetry prompts. The challenges are always a learning experience for me. I enjoy taking part in them very much 🙂
November 22, 2010 at 11:57 pm
Adam…this is awesome. I always think of “Tiny Tim” when Dickens is mentioned. So, “Tiny Tim’s blessing” was perfect to wrap up this one!
November 23, 2010 at 12:51 am
Seeing that moving scene as a kid before reading the books–never forgot it. Charles Dickens first touched my life through moving pictures. cheers 🙂
November 23, 2010 at 12:12 am
Dickens is always on my top
I have two complete sets of his works and books handed down from long gone family members who knew of my love for this writer.
great one Adam
I toast you with a turkey leg
November 23, 2010 at 12:57 am
Thanks for the toast. Lol Handed down books are a treasure. Wish you a wonderful, happy Thanksgiving! Hugs
November 23, 2010 at 8:41 pm
Love how you wrapped it up with Tiny Tim.
November 24, 2010 at 2:34 pm
I do love that scene 🙂
November 24, 2010 at 4:51 am
Hi, it’s a good poem. Based on home turf too.
November 24, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Nice turf. Lots of poetry going on there at the moment. Cheers
November 24, 2010 at 1:19 pm
this is terrific– shows so much care and skill! bravo! j
November 24, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Appreciate that, J 🙂
November 24, 2010 at 1:37 pm
nice…tis the season for dickens as well…
November 24, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, Bri! Great to work with you 🙂
November 24, 2010 at 2:01 pm
I think you captured Dickens quit well and his work related to our time. 🙂
November 24, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Hi River! Agree. Dickens is still relevant and it’s amazing how his words have been translated in a myriad of different ways. Cheers 🙂
November 24, 2010 at 2:13 pm
This is one author i always admire for writing of tiny Tim 😀
Loved the poem. Will hop on to the challenge rules now and see if i can take it up !
November 24, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Excellent. Bookstains does host great prompts. Should be a new one also in about a week or two 🙂 I’ll look for yours, Nimue 🙂
November 24, 2010 at 6:08 pm
Pleasant…this refreshed my memory on the book “Oliver Twist”. You took on the prompt in an outstanding way.
Cheers!
November 24, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Hi Em! Amazing how Charles Dicken’s work is so far-reaching and relevant that bloggers like ourselves from opposite corners of the globe have enjoyed his writing long after his death. Cheers, my friend 🙂
November 25, 2010 at 8:56 am
Nice way to celebrate Dicken’s work!
November 26, 2010 at 5:21 pm
TY. Glad you like it 🙂
November 26, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Your poem made me wonder what a totally contemporary version of Tiny Tim would be like. Think about it, what would Dickens write today?
November 26, 2010 at 5:20 pm
tough one…. for today’s audience, I could see him writing screen plays or books that are instantly adapted to the silver screen. I’m thinking John Irving on this one. But then again, Dickens wrote serialized pieces too, so perhaps he might be an incredibly popular blog if he went that route, concentrating his talents online to build a twitter following to rival Lady GaGa—well, perhaps more like Stephen Fry. lol
Enjoy the weekend 🙂
November 26, 2010 at 5:52 pm
I think he would be writing Soap operas and they would be very popular ones too:-) All life would be there:-) I think he secretly wrote ‘Little House on the Prairie’, the Waltons and Desperate housewives…but I don’t think he wants anyone to know 😀
November 26, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Funny, Laura ingalls Wilder and Dickens share the same birthday… I could see Dickens writing tv drama. However, not sure how he would of faired well working for a tv studio. Though maybe he would of made an excellent head of a writer’s guild. lol Perhaps not the best gig for a literary author, though one never knows. lol Enjoy your weekend, Lynda 🙂
November 27, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Awesome.
I wish i knew more about dickens works though.
I know scrooge, but then everybody has seen the films.
I enjoyed this
November 27, 2010 at 11:48 pm
Enjoyed episode 5! Check out the Arts Web Show, Everybody!
http://artswebshow.com/2010/11/25/arts-web-show-episode-5-bluesy-montage/
November 27, 2010 at 9:10 pm
“Catherine and ten children”
that in itself is a little world of words
November 27, 2010 at 11:51 pm
thank you, L.L. To me, that was one of the most intriguing facts. Dickens personal and family life was very interesting.
November 28, 2010 at 8:42 am
Great tribute to greatest novelist- What the Dickens… I love that!