Last week, a post by fellow blogger Anita Ferreri gave me an idea: could we possibly use the viral “word of the year” 6-7 to inspire poetry? This random response from students was driving teachers and parents all over the country a little batty at Halloween, when some schools began banning it. Others embraced it and adopted it as a way to dress up, inviting folks to come to school dressed as 6, 7, or 6-7. Our ninth grade academy was one of those schools, and the fun was never more math-y.
All week, I’ve been writing 6-7 poems. Some have six or seven lines, others have six or seven syllables on each line. I haven’t written a concrete poem in the shape of 6-7, but perhaps that will be a challenge for an upcoming snow day.
As I sat in Denver, Colorado last week during an AI Summit, we decided to take a quick walking lap around the building to stretch our legs. One of our colleagues noticed something rolling in the dirt in the empty lot beside our hotel. He stopped in his tracks.
Is that a prairie dog? (I felt a Slice of Life happening…)
Our heads snapped left to get a better look.
Indeed, it was. And once I knew they were there, I couldn’t keep my mind off of them. We keep taking random laps just to bask in their cuteness. My window, not facing the view of the Rockies but facing north toward the Aurora Borealis at night and now these just-discovered prairie dogs, was just the reminder I’d needed to be thankful I hadn’t given in to my first instinct to ask for a room with a better view. The good Lord was working the reasons for this odd room choice far away from the rest of my group. These prairie dogs WERE the view, and, like the Northern Lights, so entertaining to watch. Who needs the Colorado Rockies when there are prairie dogs? It took me back to Amarillo, Texas the morning we were leaving for Cadillac Ranch and I’d have preferred to have stayed and watched the prairie dogs in the vacant lot next to our hotel in that city, much like this deja vu situation.
So today, here is a 6-7 poem about these cute critters.
Colorado Prairie Dogs
took me out of my summit
more playful than AI
popping up here and there
tunnel infrastructure
underground labyrinths
far more captivating
than AI’s mindlessness
Tune in next Tuesday to see where our thinking about the prairie dogs took us during one part of the summit when our minds began drifting……(hint: we rethought the mascot for our new voluntary professional development club that starts in December)!
Common Threads 
What a great idea to embrace the 6-7 trend and at the same time, capture the cute prairie dog.
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Somehow the juxtaposition of AI and the natural wonders outside show up in this slice. And for you, nature won!! What a cutie that creature is! Thanks for including the video, too! And I’m glad you balanced all that screentime and talk of AI with walked outside.
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I have given in to 6, 7 too, although often my response is 8, 9, and they groan at how out of it I am. Luckily it is dying down, but I told them yo look out for whatever is next. I love your prairie dog companions!
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I think the “8-9” response is brilliant. I might have to try that.
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Kim, your prairie dog 6-7 is a clear way to embrace the magic of what you had rather than on what you thought you wanted! You have really got me going on this 6-7 poem format and I have my granddaughter and her friends spreading the format. Your powerful way of turning an annoying phrase into a poetry format is evidence to me that you focus on making magic with what you have rather than what you thought you wanted!
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Anita, I’m glad they are spreading the format and sharing the joy of writing poetry using 6-7 as a hook. I hope they discover all different ways that 6-7 poems can be written – from words to syllables to shapes and beyond. Grandchildren are such a joy! From reading your posts, it sounds like we have a lot of similarities in our lives.
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This is just like you to turn a popular meme into a poem form and an AI conference to prairie dog watching. You are a joy-seeker.
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Margaret, I love that title for me. I do try to seek out the joy and appreciate it. I’m thinking of you as you make your way to Denver. I’m glad your husband is going and that you will have some time together exploring the city.
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Kim,
When I was a kid we visited family in Colorado every summer until my father lost his sight. A highlight was feeding the chipmunks and watching the critters scurry. I could do that for hours. I’m glad you experienced a little western nature in Colorado. Love the lady line of the poem. AI is soulless.
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Yes, I’m intrigued by AI. It’s here, not going anywhere for sure. I liked the meme you sent via text. I’m also very concerned about the disappearance of the productive struggle of learning. I feel like learning needs some elbow grease, and AI doesn’t deliver it. At the same time, it’s scary how it can do something on the fly and do a darn good job of helping me soften my tone when I need a little help with that. My most popular use of it is to feed it correspondence and give it this command: Good morning, Chat, here’s a memo I’ve written. Can you take the B*T*@ out of it so I sound like a decent human being??
I can hear you laughing. You know.
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Kim,
I love your playful embrace of 6-7 and how your acceptance of your room’s view led to the just-right-for-you view of prairie dogs and aurora borealis! Wow!
Staying tuned to hear more about the prairie dogs meet AI mash up.
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6-7 Poems?! OMG. I missed Anita’s post. I’ll have to look back for it.
Watching Prairie Dogs sounds better than the summit. I can understand how the memory of them brought you back to them.
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You captured a good photo of the prairie dog. They are fun to watch and look cute but they are often the enemy of ranchers. I like your poem and your attention to 6 7 in the syllable count and lines. Your work with syllable count and line count reminds me of frame of the nonet.
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If you can’t beat them, join them. What a great way to incorporate something new. I would take watching prairie dogs over a Mountain View any day. I think you lucked out.
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Petey! Great name for that cutey. PDPD. I just saw a prairie dog at the zoo yesterday. They are cuteness overload. They dig really massive burrows, don’t they?
I saw you writing 6-7 poems, but it wasn’t until today and reading your post that I learned about the meme with 6-7. Thanks for the explanation!
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Very nice and nature always helps.
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