Roses are red
Violets are blue
I poemed some Hashtags
AND SO. DID. YOU.
That’s right – we decided to dig into the poetic nature of the @AfrikkinHashtag community and you guys pitched up [and some surprise guests and visitors who we hope will be back!] – had a few of the Unnamed Community [my secret back room of hashtag elves who appear every Wednesday and secretly make sure that the game runs to perfection in exchange for bucketloads of cheerful banter] complaining in the lead up to the game “because we’re not poetic” but most of them ended up totally smashing the game in the best of ways.
We had a lot of fun and it seems like you did too. Thanks to everyone who played and don’t forget that if you have not yet downloaded the FREE @HashtagRoundup app then that is a great way to play – and stay informed of – all the Hashtag games you can dream of.
For a game that epic it was never going to be enough to have just one co-host and so i broke new ground in inviting two amazing Hashtaggers to join me in the official capacity and both @WhoBrannigan and @JaymeMcKenna excelled so effortlessly… it was great having them alongside me as we Haiku’d our way through your offerings.
i asked each of them for a small bio piece and this is what i got:
WhoBrannigan is an old fashioned cat…
From the rust-belt land of factory smoke
He’s fond of a pun or a Doctor Who joke
He’s a true born native Region Rat.
and from Jayme:
“I like turtles”
That’s it. That is really ALL you have to know about them… oh and they are a fun bunch, full of cheerful banter which can not all be attributed to me and are really cool co-hosts… but back to the game!
So it did not take us long at all to be noticed:
727 users and 1,344 tweets (1154 RTs) in 1 hour made #PoemYourLife a Trending Topic in United States. #trndnl
— Trendinalia USA (@trendinaliaUS) May 11, 2016
And you guys got totally into it with such eagerness and abandon:
Working on new #PoemYourLife tweets like pic.twitter.com/fiCbCExjVV
— MattRSays (@MattRSays) May 11, 2016
It was so great when Olubowale Victor Akintimehin – although you may likely know him better as rap star Wale:
jumped in with a tweet:
Congestion ??Depression ??Confusion ??Confession…
We tend to forget all our blessings
When stressin #PoemYourLife.#SHiNE ??— Wale (@Wale) May 11, 2016
Followed by Hip Hop Mag XXL inviting their crew to play the game using their favourite rap lyrics, writing this article to pull them in:
#PoemYourLife with your favorite rap lyrics
— XXL Magazine (@XXL) May 11, 2016
On the other side of the spectrum we got some love from Broadway show, Something Rotten:
#PoemYourLife
I gotta go get back to my pen and ink…
Oh, don’t make me do it,
Don’t make me go through it,
Can somebody get me a drink?— Something Rotten (@RottenBroadway) May 11, 2016
And even Comedy Central jumped in with a Demitri Martin [who else?] inspired verse:
#PoemYourLife with @DemetriMartin. https://t.co/CsVgPcT7lQ
— Comedy Central (@ComedyCentral) May 11, 2016
#PoemYourLife became the 4th @AFrikkinHashtag to make it onto Twitterer Moments.
I love how every week we have the randomest ‘star Wars characters’ playing our tags as themselves. This week the best came from Admiral Ackbar:
Roses are red,
Vader is black,
Death Star’s operational?
Guess it’s a trap.#PoemYourLife— Admiral Ackbar (@_Admiral_Ackbar) May 11, 2016
Although one of our favourite new celebrities as always is @Seinfeldbot who didn’t let us down this week:
What’s the deal with #PoemYourLife? Do you love me? Am I a lie? Am I an actual hack? Just what am I?
— Seinfeld Bot (@TheSeinfeldBot) May 11, 2016
This week we had a SHORT and a LONG invite to cater for everyone’s word appreciation [or not] needs:
To everyone who thinks they can poet & you who think you can’t. Come
#PoemYourLife
w @WhoBrannigan @JaymeMcKenna
If you a poet & you know it or not, or even @Seinfeldbot join @brettfisha @WhoBrannigan @JaymeMcKenna #PoemYourLife
And then as per usual dropped one or two of my own to lead the way:
i call my wife tbV which stands for ‘The Beautiful Val’ cos, yes… so this:
Her name is Val & she’s with me
i get to call her tbV
She’s clever & she’s lots of fun
Really is my #1
#PoemYourLife
i tried to do a ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ homage
to tell a bit of the story so far of @AFrikkinHashtag:
And then it was up to @WhoBrannigan and @JaymeMcKenna to strut their stuff:
You know your tag is super-hot
When it wakes up @TheSeinfeldBot#PoemYourLife— Jayme Really (@JaymeMcKenna) May 11, 2016
#WCW… it happens today,@JaymeMcKenna, I’ll send this her way.
I’m no poet as you can see
Will make it the best it can be#PoemYourLife— WhoBrannigan (@WhoBrannigan) May 11, 2016
All my life I’ve been fixin’
To do #PoetAMovie and use
“Robert Frost/Nixon”#PoemYourLife— WhoBrannigan (@WhoBrannigan) May 11, 2016
My silly rhymes all end up like Seuss.
If poetry were a train
I’d be the caboose.#PoemYourLife pic.twitter.com/WUWqRH77hA— WhoBrannigan (@WhoBrannigan) May 11, 2016
I think that I shall never see
A selfie lovely as a tree!(~with apologies to Joyce Kilmer)#PoemYourLife pic.twitter.com/yFPyjP4gYK
— Jayme Really (@JaymeMcKenna) May 11, 2016
#PoemYourLife
“Now on motorway
Driving, Changing lanes for years
Avoiding the crabs”#myku #haiku #poetry #DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/C0oyyW4jKo— WhoBrannigan (@WhoBrannigan) May 11, 2016
Big fan of Doctor Who so having Bran along was super great in terms of keeping that theme in play…
HUGE thanks to the two of them who really added to the game. You can stay!
BUT… as always we know why you are here and it’s really to see if you can brag about being a F.L.O.P. to your friends and family this week [followed by an awkward and complicated conversation about what hashtagging games are and why that’s a good thing]
Onward to the fray and let’s find out which FUN and CLEVER and MISDIRECTIONAL and RANDOM [but related] – and all FAMILY – tweets made it on to this week’s:
Fish List Of Prizeworthyness [F.L.O.P.]
i want to warn you that there are a lot of them but you did so so good and even with all these, there were so many good ones that didn’t make it on here, but i just grabbed some of the very many that caught my eye:
Love to see new players into the mix. No sure if Wejul has played before but think this is his first time on the F.L.O.P.:
Roses are red
Violets are blue
From this life, I nearly fled
But I held in like glue
#PoemYourLife— Wejul! (@Wejuli256) May 11, 2016
Our friend Zen dropped some rhyme:
Roses are red,
And @BrettFishA is biting.
The banter is plentiful,
This game should be exciting.#PoemYourLife— ☯ Zen Rand ☯ (@ZenRand) May 11, 2016
Former co-host Nish discovered her hidden poet again and again during this game, even to her own surprise i think:
She keeps her regrets in a dressing-case, and her chocolates in some undiscoverable place.. 😛 #PoemYourLife
— NishBlack (@NishaNazim) May 11, 2016
As music fills me,
All left of me is peace
And that’s my release
#PoemYourLife— NishBlack (@NishaNazim) May 11, 2016
Aricka brought some real life experience to the game:
Cut off from real life
I attempt to engage on Twitter
I try not let it happen
But I still slowly grow bitter#PoemYourLife @AFrikkinHashtag— Aricka Shuck (@Aricka_Shuck) May 11, 2016
Peter said what too many other parents were thinking:
#PoemYourLife
The kids are awake
But you want to sleep
If they made child’s ambien
There wouldn’t be a peep— Peter Maes (@PeteMaes) May 11, 2016
Our friendly Fun Guy dropped some beats:
People say I should get fitter
But I spend my time on Twitter
Instead of the gym
My mental rhythm
Needs the occasional titter#PoemYourLife— Fungus the Bogeyman (@bigstevie1967) May 11, 2016
South Africa came to play in the person of veldlot:
#PoemYourLife In the south I live, of a country small, laughing at life and loving you all
— Veldlot (@veldlot) May 11, 2016
Another regular favourite Abed had these words for the web:
#PoemYourLife
Spider, spider on the wall,
I’ll run like hell if you should fall
And, if you hang above my bed
I’m sleeping in the bathroom— TheWalkingAbed (@TheWalkingAbed) May 11, 2016
Gnurberella showed her face rhyming monster with rollercoaster, because internet:
#PoemYourLife
All the time I’d never know
What I’d be when I did grow
To meet & live with my big monster
Loving life’s great rollercoaster❤— Gnurberella (@needleshunt) May 11, 2016
Lady Ä was, like Nish, on burning form, dropping stunning poetry bombs all over this game, like this gem:
Bewitched by beauty
Curdled by hate
My life is a lesson:
It’s never too late.
#PoemYourLife— Lady Ä (@she_nutt) May 11, 2016
Matt gave us all Seinfled flashbacks with this classic:
Roses are red, violets are blue, you ignored my rules, so NO MORE SOUP FOR YOU #PoemYourLife pic.twitter.com/usYqyD18jv
— MattRSays (@MattRSays) May 11, 2016
While this beautiful wife lady showed up to show she can hold her own:
@AFrikkinHashtag His name is Brett (don’t call him Brit)/ he’s quite a guy & full of wit/ I rather deem/ we’re quite a team! #PoemYourLife
— Valerie Anderson (@val_c_anderson) May 11, 2016
Jaylan made her words sing:
Howling into the night
Half past eight and still breathing
Ain’t getting fun no more
Chasing guys with caramel
In their eyes#PoemYourLife— Jaylan Salah (@JaylanSalman) May 11, 2016
Our favourite Bunni got on board in a promotional and artistic way:
#PoemYourLife pic.twitter.com/qyIug99gYk
— Bunniboila (@bunniboila) May 11, 2016
Maize spoke for “morning people” everywhere:
#PoemYourLife
One eye opened
Looking at clock
Grab a hammer
To make it stop— MaizeMaze (@MellowYellow56) May 11, 2016
While disabled nihilist really touched us in the feels:
#PoemYourLife Despair! Despair! I’m in a wheelchair. Unrequited love. Fits me like a glove. Despair! Despair! I no longer care.
— Disabled Nihilist (@demonwheels666) May 11, 2016
Aricka was back with this quest:
The man I love is complicated
Yet I continue to persist
I need to reconcile my fantasy
With the man that exists#PoemYourLife
— Aricka Shuck (@Aricka_Shuck) May 11, 2016
As was Wejul with a spiritual verse:
Am a sign of a victory,
A miracle!
Clay moulded from His likeliness.
From the rubble you lift
My sunken spirit to the horizon! #PoemYourLife— Wejul! (@Wejuli256) May 11, 2016
Anthony got philosophical:
Night is day
Day is night
Not for pay
No fame no light
Can’t stand pain
Can’t stand strife
Can’t stop rain
But can’t stop life#PoemYourLife
— Anthony Mase (@TonyWritesGood) May 11, 2016
Web Feet adapted one of my favourite jokes [mine is with intestines, but same joke]:
#PoemYourLife
If I took all my veins
And, end-to-end, them I’d lay
Real science will say
What an idiot. You’re gonna die.@AFrikkinHashtag— IHaveWebFeet (@IHaveWebFeet) May 11, 2016
Carol dug deep:
Many, many smiles
But yet so many tears
LIfe a mish-mash
Of love and loss
Still unsure
Which cuts the deepest#PoemYourLife— Carol (@CarolDrummond4) May 11, 2016
Another fave of ours, St Simeon brought some classic to a classic:
There was an old man from Nantucket
Who realized he preferred poems that don’t rhyme.
They said “What about—”
He said “No.”#PoemYourLife— St. Simeon the Fool (@SimeonTheFool) May 11, 2016
Miss Stefanie spoke of friendship:
#PoemYourLife Retain your uniqueness
And I will keep mine
For that is the only way
Any friendship
Can be truly fine— Miss Stefanie (@elusivepianist) May 11, 2016
Ego Sum brought his nerd:
#PoemYourLife
Forged by the iron
Raised like a nerd.
A unique, one off, scion.
Walks apart from the herd.— Ego Sum Fortis (@HatedbyMorons) May 11, 2016
More Star Wars characters playing our game:
Our armor now shined
We march by the score
But never will we find
The droids we’re looking for #PoemYourLife pic.twitter.com/hgMaZAH156— Zeb the Stormtrooper (@StormtrooperZeb) May 11, 2016
Rick brought some scary truth home:
#PoemYourLife
As a child I began to see
a world of monsters just for fun,
but all those monsters on TV
were never as bad as the human ones.— Rick Medusa (@MisterMedusa) May 11, 2016
The Tang Soo Dude wins this week’s Misdirection Moment:
Round and round I go
Just filling my time
In a fruitless endeavour
To find a good … word that sounds like “time” #PoemYourLife— The TangSooDude (@tangsoodude) May 11, 2016
As the game went on, we found that people were creating deeper and more meaningful poems which were amazing.
Джэсc Кайди got us thinking with:
Left alone to my design,
I would not trust my maker’s hand,
So dare I say the glory’s thine,
For you are God, and I am man.#PoemYourLife— Джэсc Кайди (@Behemoth_Steak) May 11, 2016
Latasha as well with this reflective piece:
Carrying filth in your soul
Keeps you from being whole
Meanwhile being blinded by what you’re told#PoemYourLife— 1Latasha McGlory (@lmcglory1265) May 11, 2016
phish had one of the best poem poems of the game:
Willow
You, graceful willow,
dancing pond edge,
deep roots under water.I, just your poor koi,
rising into your
Beauty.— Phishgod (@chiefplan1) May 12, 2016
Odonko-ba brought some wisdom:
what if the test
is not what we go through
but an examination of how we
endure #PoemYourLife #PoemMyLife #life pic.twitter.com/5D0E63rPbL— Odonko-ba (@odonkoba) May 12, 2016
Which brings us to this week’s F.L.O.P. TOP SIX and it was chalk dust between them
[6] Georgestownelf with this word mastery of picture-forming:
Black spruce fringe the sky, ribbon of asphalt leads me home,
Mad acrimony melting with the snow.#PoemYourLife pic.twitter.com/bBlG3LMJWK— snowdropmacelfface (@Georgestownelf) May 11, 2016
[5] Justine who works at @TheDailyShow with my fellow South African @TrevorNoah opened up with this:
Grateful for a past that didn’t last
& the things I learned to feel less hurt
The ticking clocks to prove
my earthly worth#PoemYourLife— Justine (@JustineCabulong) May 11, 2016
[4] Lady Ä was literally on fire the whole game and these are just two of the gems she crafted:
Own path, own path
Wandering alone
Ripped knees and
Broken trees
Discovery comes too late
For patches to be sewn#PoemYourLife— Lady Ä (@she_nutt) May 11, 2016
So alluring and dark
Are the shadows inside
They come out to play
When I run to hide.
#PoemYourLife— Lady Ä (@she_nutt) May 11, 2016
[3] Natalie blew me away with this one. So few words, so much meaning:
“Alright, here I am!” I cried,
And, pushing fearful thought aside,
I opened the window very wide,
…and Life came in.#poemyourlife #YOLO— NatalieRachelWalker (@NatalieRWalker) May 11, 2016
[2] Rita communicated courage and bravery in these few words:
Wants to break out
She doesn’t know how
But she knows she will
#PoemYourLife— Rita Afful (@rita_afful) May 11, 2016
[1] While for me, this week’s Top F.L.O.P. was definitely Joanne who shared a window into her soul:
Laugh past the sad,
and no bending for trends,
it’s taken my whole life
for Me and I to be friends. #PoemYourLife— Joanne (@AyjayH) May 11, 2016
Well done Joanne, the Top 6, the F.L.O.P. list and to EVERYONE who played @AFrikkinHashtag – that has been one of our favourites and we look forward to tomorrow which is going to be completely super silly and from the left field of everything we have done in recent weeks and i am so glad that new co-host Warren Baker aka @SideOfHashTags is going to be along for that ride. Along with, as always, The Unnamed – but fully credited – Crew and most hopefully YOU… because you make this game.
We will let Warren close this week’s F.L.O.P. list off for us:
The poems were fun
A morning perk
But time has come
To go to workAn awesome tag @AFrikkinHashtag @JaymeMcKenna @WhoBrannigan#PoemYourLife
— Warren Baker (@SideOfHashTags) May 11, 2016
Thanks for keeping it [for the most part] FAMILY.
Thanks for bringing the CLEVER and the FUNNY and the MISDIRECTIONAL and the RANDOM [but related]
Let’s keep the WIT in the Twitterer and see you Wednesday at 12 noon SA time for another great game.
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