Angela Wilson is poet of the week for the Weekly W3 Prompt, and she has presented a fun and challenging poetry form called the Golden Shovel.
The Golden Shovel
In The Golden Shovel poetry form, each line of the poem takes one word from the original poem and uses it as the final word in each line of the new poem. The structure of the lines and the rhyme scheme of the new poem can vary, but the end-word of each line must come from the original poem.
prompt guidelines
- Select a haiku written by someone other yourself;
- Construct a “Golden Shovel” poem from that haiku.
I select this haiku by Matsuo Bashō from which to construct my poem Splish, Splash, Bash, Ō (anyone notice my homage to Bashō in its title?)
Along the road, the rain –
Matsuo Bashō
A pitter-patter sound,
Refreshes the earth.
I place a word at the end of each line from it in my Golden Shovel poem, *Splish, Splash, Bash—Ō.

Splish, Splash, Bash,Ō
Swishing motorbike tyres zoom Along Fast! Slicing through The Flooded Gutters of the Road, Splashing, splutters Past!—drenching The Unfortunate Pedestrian, without mirth, dashing from the Rain Pitter patter, pitter patter—clatter like a train, Pitter patter, pitter patter, pitter Patter Splish, splash, bash, splattering Sound. Dances of droplets refreshes Grey tarmac ground. Puddling waterfalls torrenting down The Drain to sewer rivers in the Hidden Earth. Lesley Scoble. 12 February 2023
A little bit of history
The Golden Shovel is a poetry form that was inspired by the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks.
In this form, each line of the poem takes one word from the original poem and uses it as the final word in each line of the new poem. The structure of the lines and the rhyme scheme of the new poem can vary, but the end-word of each line must come from the original poem.
Poetry that digs
The poetry form is based on the idea of ‘shovelling’ words from a source poem into a new poem.
American poet and teacher Terrance Hayes 1971-
Terrence Hayes devised the Golden Shovel poetry form when he was trying to teach his young son a poem written by one Gwendolyn Brooks. Her poem We Real Cool (1960) influenced Hayes to call the new poetry form The Golden Shovel. The Golden Shovel appeared as a subtitle to her 1960 poetry book The Bean Eaters [The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel].
We Real Cool
The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel.We real cool.
Gwendolyn Brooks
We Left school.
We Lurk late.
We Strike straight.
We Sing sin.
We Thin gin.
We Jazz June.
We Die soon.
Gwendolyn Brooks 1917-2000
The Golden Shovel has become a popular and recognized form of contemporary poetry. Introducing new generations of poets to engage with the legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks and the Black Arts Movement.
Gwendolyn Brooks is the first black woman to be made American Poet Laureate.
My thanks to Angela Wilson and David, Weekly W3 Prompt, for this fun and inventive poetry challenge.
(*btw, why isn’t the word Splish recognised in the English language, yet? 🤔).
24 responses to “Splish, Splash, Bash, Ō: a golden shovel poem”
Speaking as someone without a car who walks across rainy streets and does his best to avoid big puddles when cars are around, I really feel this one, Lesley! Well done ❤
And, as always, your whole post is really a fun, refreshing read 😀
~David
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Thank you so much, David! 😊🙏 I’m glad I found time to give the golden shovel a try! I’m travelling way up in North Yorkshire at the moment! 🌹
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Lesley – I hope you’re having a great time 🙂
This week’s W3 prompt, hosted by the amazing Tanmay Philip is now live:
https://skepticskaddish.com/2023/02/15/w3-prompt-42-weave-written-weekly/
Enjoy ❤
~David
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Yes, thank you, David 😊
I look forward to having a go at Tanmay’s puente poem 😎
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*hug*
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Enjoyed your poem, Lesley, and I absolutely love how you captured the movement in your photo 🙂
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Thank you so much, Sunra! 😊🙏🌹 I got wet taking the photo 😂
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You suffered for your art! A true artist ❤️👌
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😂
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I absolutely loved the photo and the poem was brilliantly penned! So curious ‘Splish’ isn’t recognised yet, it’s such a natural word 😂
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Thank you so much! 😊🌹🙏
Splish surely must get recognised? 😁 I’m starting a campaign 😂
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So well done Lesley.
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Wow, thanks Sadje 🌹🙏😊
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Most welcome 🙏🏼
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I have been splished and splashed like that. Motorcycles are a menace. I know because I used to own one.
Awesome golden shovel, Leslie. Bravo! 👏
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Gosh thanks, Tanmay! Awesome is one of my favourite words! 😁🙏🌹
I bet you were really cool 😎 on your motorbike.
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Haha! Not really. Motorbikes are a common sight here. They’re much cheaper than cars, and more convenient to park.
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This is extremely cool, Lesley! Great imagery. Well done! 💫
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Thanks so muc for the compliment, Nancy🌧️ It’s so good to be cool! 😎 💗
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It sure is! 😎
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Love the noise of this poem. That’s a hard rain a-falling.
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Thank you kindly 😊🙏🌹😁 🌧️ pelting down!
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I love this form of poetry and what you did with it, Lesley. And the photo is terrific… black and white was a very good choice for it, capturing all the still and moving pieces.
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Thank you, Steve 🙏😊
I appreciate your lovely comment 💗
Glad you like the photograph (I got wet taking it! 😁)
Lesley
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