black swan slipper car

fascopy paper formed into ballet toe
will cushion an egg,

raw, wrapped and

nestled in its egg-protector

as it sails to rain-gutter glory

(it’s sharpee black body dons a
skull sticker with wings)

one centimer folded columns
bumper the slipper’s toe
fronting a pool of squirted glue
that ups the car’s mass to
meet challenge requirements

fins provide balance and finesse
they streamline eyes that
admire the black swan slipper’s promise

--challenge next week—

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Process Notes:

Monday’s prompt at Big Tent Poetry asked us to incorporate science into our poems. This week at school was a high stakes (think NCLB, AYP) testing week. Kids tested in the morning, and our middle school team (go Dynamos!) worked their way through four different 45 minute stations in the afternoon. Fortuitously, I worked in a science classroom, in which we constructed paper cars. I noted that my car looked like a ballet slipper, and one of the students, said, “Yeah, the Black Swan, maybe…” My car took a turn toward the dark side. :-) Allotted only three sheets of paper to make the car, it had to have a mass of 40 grams(that’s where the glue came in handy). For next week’s addition of wheels, I glued on the axle housing (straws)--after I took the picture.  Next week the cars will run down rain gutter tracks carrying an egg. The gutter will end in a cinderblock. The challenge is to have the fastest time with egg intact. Go Black Swan Slipper Car!!!