Animal Poetry

I love poems about animals.

JooHee Yoon must too, because she has compiled a fun, innovative book of poems called Beastly Verse. 

Her bright illustrations in yellows, oranges, reds, and greens make the poems jump off the page. (Good thing the animals don't jump off--they only seem to.) 

Some of the poems are long. Some are short. Some are serious. Some are silly. Some rhyme. Some don't. All celebrate the wonderfulness that is the animal world.

Do you like to write verse about beasts? Try using one of these poems as a model:

The Friendly Hen by Arthur Waugh

Some birds lay eggs in towering trees,
And some in fens conceal them;
The hen seeks friendlier haunts than these,
Where every child can steal them.

Or if caterpillars are more your thing, here's a poem for you:

Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti

Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry,
Take your walk
To the shady leaf, or stalk,
Or what not,
Which may be the chosen spot.
No toad spy you,
Hovering bird of prey pass by you;
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly. 

Let your poem squawk like a hen or crawl like a caterpillar. Invent your own beast--a henpillar or caterhen. Whether your verse is beastly or ghastly or ghostly, have fun!

Water Poems

I live on an island, surrounded by water.

So it's not surprising that I want to devote our last week of National Poetry Month to water poetry.


Water is life-giving. It's also beautiful, and wet, and wild and wonderful, which is why so many poets use water images. 

Water also turns into ice, like in "Woman Skating" by Margaret Atwood:

With arms wide the skater

turns, leaving her breath like a diver's

trail of bubbles.

Seeing the ice 

as what is is, water. 

Here's "Water Music" by Robert Creeley, with its dark mood:

The words are a beautiful music.

The words bounce like in water.

Water music,

loud in the clearing

off the boats,

birds, leaves.

They look for a place

to sit and eat-

no meaning,

no point. 

And here's the start of the fun, silly "Duck's Ditty" by Kenneth Grahame: 

All along the backwater,

Through the rushes tall,

Ducks are a-dabbling,

Up tails all! 

What is YOUR water poem? Is it about the ocean? A lake? A stream? An icy pond? Or a duck? 

Find your own images and let yourself get wet with water words!

Onomatopoeia for Earth Day

It's perfect that Earth Day falls in April, which is National Poetry Month.

This Earth Day, I want to combine two things I love: animals and onomatopoeia. 

In case you haven't heard of this wonderful word, onomatopoeia (pronounced ah-no-mah-to-PEE-ah) refers to a word that's formed from the sound it makes.

sizzle, crunch, cuckoo, tick-tock, fizz

Can you think of more? 



Animal sounds have great onomatopoeia:

oink, meow, chirp, hiss, ribbit, croak, squeak, quack

To celebrate Earth Day, let's write a poem using animal onomatopoeia. Here's mine:

Croaking and Squawking

The crow croaks at the mouse

Who squeaks at the sheep

Who bleats at the cat

Who mews at the dog

Who yowls at the pig

Who oinks at the raven

Who caws at the parrot

Who squawks at me that it's time to eat. 

Try making your own poetry animals "talk" with onomatopoeia.

Recite your poem out loud on Earth Day, or read it to your pets. For extra zing, add your own sound effects!

Rhymed Couplets

It's the second week of National Poetry Month. Hurray for poetry!

And hurray for William Shakespeare! I'm reading Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, a story about fairies, love, and confusion in the forest.

One of the joys of reading Shakespeare is his language. Sometimes he uses blank verse (poetry that doesn't rhyme). Sometimes he uses prose (not poetry). And sometimes he uses rhymed couplets, which are wonderful to read aloud.

One story in A Midsummer Night's Dream is about Oberon, the King of the Fairies, and Titania, his Queen. 

In these rhymed couplets, Oberon tells Puck to place some magical "juice" from a flower on the sleeping Titania's eyes. When Titania wakes up, she will fall in love with the first being she sees.

In rhymed couplets, Oberon begins: 

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,

Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,

Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine,

With sweet muskroses and with eglantine.

There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,

Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight.

And there the snake throws her enameled skin,

Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in. 

Read it out loud. Can you hear and feel the rhyme? The rhyme scheme is what we call:

a
a
b
b
c
c
d
d

We say "couplets" because the first two lines rhyme, the next two lines rhyme, and so on.

Blows means to burst into flower. Oxlips, woodbine, and eglantine are types of flowers. Weed means clothing. But even if we don't know the meaning of these words, it doesn't matter. The rhyme and the sense of the poem carry us away.

Want to try your own? Write a short poem in rhyming couplets. It doesn't have to be about fairies and magical juice. It can be about anything you want. 

Rhyming is fun. If you get stuck trying to find a rhyme, go to one of the rhyming dictionaries online.

Now excuse me while I start my poem in rhyming couplets:

a      I love my stapler, so sleek and gray,
a      I always hate to put it away. 
b      It chomps, it bites, it holds together
b      Anything, in any weather. 

It's not Shakespeare, but as I said, rhyming couplets can be about whatever we want! 

National Poetry Month 2015

April is National Poetry Month! 

On Yellow Pencils, that means all poetry, all month.

Not a poet, you say? Not a problem. Even if we write fiction or nonfiction, writing a poem lets us play with words. And we all love words, right?

Let's start with nonsense. Being silly is always a good way to get into poetry. I'm in the mood to write an acrostic poem using the word "nonsense." How about you? 

Natty was batty
Oony was loony
Nilly was silly
Sadie was a-fraidy
Elso was nutso
Nad was mad
Soupy was loopy and
Elaine was insane. 

Your nonsense acrostic can rhyme or not. The only "rule" is, Have fun. Welcome to National Poetry Month!

A Newbery Medal Winner in Verse

The Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature was announced this morning. 

The 2015 Medal goes to The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. I'm really looking forward to reading it! 

The story is about twelve-year old Josh, his twin brother, Jordan, and their exploits on the basketball court. A new girl, a budding romance, a brother relationship, and a family's bonds are all part of this novel chosen as best of the year. 

The Crossover is written in verse.

With a bolt of lightning on my kicks...

The court is sizzling.

My sweat is drizzling.

Stop all that quivering.

Cuz tonight I'm delivering.

Have you tried writing a story in poetry form? It's challenging, but it can also be a huge reward for your reader.

For a fun exercise, take a page of your prose writing, and turn it into poetry, verse, or rap--it doesn't matter what you call it. 

The verse doesn't have to rhyme. How do you like it? Do you want to continue in verse?

And don't forget to put The Crossover on your "to read" list.

A Silly Thanksgiving Poem

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. We get to eat a lot of great food. 

Better than that, we can be thankful for all the good things in our lives. When we add those things up, there's a lot to be thankful for. 

This all sounds pretty serious, doesn't it?

Of course Thanksgiving also has its fun side, which we can celebrate with a Silly Thanksgiving Poem.

Write a poem that tells about the fun, light side of the holiday at your house. Here's mine. How about yours? 

A Thanksgiving Count-Up

One, two, three fours.

Pumpkin pie comes through the doors. 

Five, six, seven, eights.

Put out the best dinner plates. 

Nine, ten, eleven, twelves.

Where are Santa's helper elves?

Oops! Wrong holiday! 

Nine, ten, eleven, twelves.

Place the salads on the shelves.

Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteens.

 A basket full of jelly beans.

Arrghh. Not again!

Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteens.

Is it time for Halloweens?

Back to Thanksgiving!

Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteens.

 Do we have to eat the greens? 

Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty.

Thanks for all we have in plenty! 

Poetry for Every Day

I saw this sign the other day in Seattle. I loved that the Department of Transportation wrote a poem about a bridge being painted. 

What if we had poetry surrounding us every day? 

The school cafeteria:

Grab your tray 
Fill it up today! 

The crosswalk:

Wait, then walk.
Look, then gawk
Speak, then talk.
Time to cross!

The grocery store:

Apples and oranges and pears, oh my.
On sale today: cherry pie.
Pick a cart. You're at the mart. 
Ready? Set? Start! 

Pick a place or thing you see every day. Write a poem that tells about it in a fun way. And remember to "cross nicely" at the bridge!

Write a Poem About Your Place

Where do you live? 

Is it a big city or a tiny town? Do you live on a farm or in a high-rise building? Do you live on a busy corner or high up a hill? 

To continue celebrating National Poetry Month, let's write about our place. 

Think about where you live. What do you like about it? What don't you like? What makes it different from any other place? How do you get there? By train, car, boat, bus, or elevator? 

First write down some images that come to mind. Use all your 5 senses: what do you see, hear, smell, taste, touch in your mind when you think about the place where you live?

Include details that make your place unique. 

Now take those details and images and put them into your poem, telling the reader--as only you can--about the place where you live.

I live on an island. Here's my poem.

An Island in the Morning

The ferry honks three times:
I'm coming in!

The heron lifts its wings:
I'm hungry!

The salt air stings the nose:
I smell like fish! 

The dock stretches into the harbor:
Tie your boats up here! 

The mountain shows off: 
I'm a giant ice-cream cone! 

The rocky beach makes walking hard:
I'm slippery and wet! 

The grocery store opens its doors:
I hear the morning gossip!

A bus rumbles down the main street:
I take commuters to the ferry!

The ferry honks one time: 
I'm going out! 

What do you want to say about your place? 

A Silly Poem for Earth Day

Tomorrow is Earth Day!

And we're still celebrating National Poetry Month.

Have you noticed, a lot of poems about nature or Earth are serious? 

They don't have to be. 

I'm mixing my love of nature with my love of silliness. Here's my silly poem about Earth (with thanks to the poet Joyce Kilmer, author of "Trees"--who was a guy, by the way). 

I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree.

I think that I shall never view
A poem as lovely as a gnu.

I think that I shall never spy
A poem as lovely as a fly.

I think that I shall never glimpse
A poem as lovely as two chimps.

I think I'll never scrutinize
A poem as lovely as the skies.

But now I'll end this poem, you see
Cause nothing's better than a tree! 


How about your Earth Day poem?

Be silly, fun, and full of mirth
To celebrate our Planet Earth! 

Write a Poem About a Library

Not only is this National Poetry Month. It's also National Library Week.

Put the two together, and what do you get? No, not a mixed-up calendar. You get a poem about a library!

Do you have a library at school or in your town? What do you love about it? Is it the big windows? The shelves of books? The rows of computers? The helpful library workers? The storytimes? 

We can celebrate our library with an acrostic poem. That's a poem in which the letters of a word (like "library") give us the first line.

Here's my library acrostic. Have fun creating your own!

Lots and lots and lots of 
Interesting 
Books.
Real stories and made-up stories
About animals, action, and adventure. 
Read! 
Your library has the perfect book to carry you away. 

Write a Poem About an Imaginary Pet

Happy National Poetry Month! All month long, we'll celebrate poems. 

Even if you think you're not a poet, join in and try writing one. 

Reading and writing poems lets us play with language. 

We'll start out with imaginary pets. Do you have a real pet? Chances are it's a dog, cat, goldfish, or gerbil. 

It's probably not a Nightlight Bird, like on the cover of this wonderful book by Richard Michelson. 

Here's one of his imaginary pets: 

Nightlight Bird

I used to need a nightlight
when it was time for bed
until we got a red-eyed
Nightlight Bird instead.

I don't need any batteries
or bulbs or plugs or sockets.
I just keep Nightlight Bird seed
in my pajama pockets.

My bird won't scare a burglar.
She's slow and pigeon-toed,
but if she senses danger
Bird blinks and sends Morse Code.

But best of all, when Nightlight
starts her late-night stare
the shadows in my room run
away and disappear. 

Some other poems in this fun book are the Buscatcher, the Leftover Eater, and the Talkback Bat. 

Your turn! What kind of imaginary pet would YOU love to have? Write a poem about it. It doesn't need to rhyme. 

When you're done, add a drawing. The illustrations in Animals That Ought To Be are by the wonderful Leonard Baskin. 

I bet your illustration will be just as wonderful. 

Have fun creating and drawing your imaginary pet! 

Summer Writing Part 2

Has your summer vacation started yet? Do you have your notebook and pencil ready? How about your guitar? 

Here are more ideas to make this summer a fabulous writing summer. 

1. Write a song. Music and lyrics. You've never written a song before? Go for it! Summer is for experimenting.

2. Write a concrete poem. No, not out of cement. A concrete poem is written in the shape of the thing you're writing about--your cat, a stop sign, or a donut.

3. Write a story about 4 friends whose names all mean "sun" in different languages.

4. Write about a hat that travels from Los Angeles to Maine.

5. Write an acrostic poem about summer. Here's mine:

Sizzling sidewalks
Umbrellas on the beach
Melting popsicles and  
Moments by yourself.
Easy-going days let you
Read and dream under a tree. 

How is your writing summer shaping up? 

Haiku

This is our last week celebrating National Poetry Month. And no celebration of poetry is complete without haiku.

Haiku is a form of poetry originating in Japan. A haiku has 17 syllables, broken down like this:

First line: 5 syllables
Second line: 7 syllables
Third line: 5 syllables

Traditionally, haiku is about the natural world.

The most famous Japanese haiku poet, Matsuo Basho, lived from 1644 to 1694. Haiku actually dates from the 9th century, so you can see that it has been around for a very long time! 

When Basho's haiku is translated into English, it doesn't usually follow the traditional number of syllables. 

flower of the harvest moon?
it only looks that way
a cotton field

Here's a traditional haiku by Rachel, a student from Wisconsin.

An orca whale jumps
Sending a cry in the air,
Splashing water high.

You can also add artwork to your haiku. Try writing your own, and have fun experimenting. 
Happy haiku-ing! 

An Earth Day Ode

Today is Earth Day. And we're still celebrating National Poetry Month. So naturally it's a good day to write a poem about....the Earth! 

Earth is a BIG subject, so let's write about one small part of nature. 

I love to write odes. An ode is a poem that celebrates a person, animal, object...or anything. 

To write an Earth Day Ode, first think about your subject. A porcupine, pine cone, or polar star? A cactus, canyon, or caterpillar? 

Choose your favorite animal, your favorite place in nature, or go outside and find a leaf, rock, or stick you'd like to put into an ode.

Odes don't have to rhyme. Often they're addressed directly ("you") to the subject. They can follow any form.

Here's my Earth Day Ode to ice.

Ice

You cover our poles

South and north 

Keeping Earth cooled down.

Frozen bubbles of water.

Silver, white, gray, black.

Your frost and rime and crystals are

Brittle and beautiful as diamonds.

We don't thank you enough

So I'm thanking you now.

Your fields stretch out

Like a frozen blanket

Protecting us. 

Telephone Poems

We're still celebrating National Poetry Month! 

These days we all seem to be attached to our phones. So it seems fitting that we combine telephones with poetry....and write a Telephone Poem.

No, this isn't an ode to our phones (as much as we love our smart phones, dumb phones, or whatever kind of phones we have).

A Telephone Poem uses your phone number as a start-off point to write a poem. 

Write your phone number down the left-hand side of a page or screen. 

Now write a poem in which each line contains as many words as the number opposite it. The number zero can be no words--an empty line--or it can be a "wild card" to fill any way you want. 

I'll make up a phone number (with no area code, so we can't call it): 545-8604. I'm going to use the zero as a "wild card," a line with as many words as I want. 

Extreme Tide

5   Yesterday the extreme low tide
4   Exposed the sea stars 
5   Clinging to the ferry dock. 
8   A little boy told me he'd touched one. 
6   "How did it feel?" I asked. 
0   "Weird. But fun." 
4   Just like the tide. 

Writing with a particular form, like a set number of lines, can free up our imagination. That doesn't seem logical, but that's how it works. 

Your phone is ringing. It wants its own poem! 

Nonsensical Poems

Yellow Pencils is continuing our celebration of poetry this month.

There's something about spring that makes me think about...nonsense! It must be the wonderful smells in the air, and the extra kick we have in our steps. Or maybe it's the dogs running around in hats. 

Nonsense poems are silly and fun, like Edward Lear's "The Quangle Wangle's Hat." It begins: 

On the top of the Crumpetty Tree
The Quangle Wangle sat,
But his face you could not see,
On account of his Beaver Hat.
For his Hat was a hundred and two feet wide,
With ribbons and bibbons on every side,
And bells, and buttons, and loops, and lace,
So that nobody could ever see the face
Of the Quangle Wangle Quee.

Try not reading that poem out loud. You just have to, it's so fun, with made-up words like "crumpetty" and "Quangle Wangle." (And what if the Quangle Wangle was a dog?)

Lewis Carroll wrote the ultimate nonsense poem, "Jabberwocky." Here are the first two stanzas:

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jujub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

Try writing your own poem with nonsense words. You can use either Edward Lear's or Lewis Carroll's poems as a model. 

Read a poem just for fun or to inspire your writing. Writing is made up of words, and poets have the most fun of all experimenting with them. 

Animal Poems

April is National Poetry Month! All month long, we'll be celebrating poetry here at Yellow Pencils. 

I love animals, and let's face it, some animals look silly, act silly, or have a silly name. Like the three-toed sloth. Or the kiwi. Or the ocelot. 

Write a poem about a "silly" animal, your favorite animal, or any animal you think is really cool. Be silly or serious, use rhyme or not, and make up words. Think about your animal, and what makes it special to you. 

Here's my silly poem, The Ocelot

The Ocelot

I like the ocelot.
A lot.
I likes its spots
like polka dots. 
More often than not
this cat is hot
the tawny, yellow ocelot. 

Here's a silly poem by John Gardner.

The Cockatoo

The Cockatoo is widely known
For talking on the telephone
And also (wretched, thoughtless bird)
For hanging up without a word.


And a serious one by Langston Hughes.


The Snail

Little snail,
Dreaming you go,
Weather and rose
Is all you know.

Weather and rose
Is all you see,
Drinking the dewdrop's 
Mystery.

What is your animal poem? 

Spring

It's spring this week! Where I live, the sun is shining more, frogs are croaking in the pond at the end of our road, and best of all, the grocery store has Peeps for sale. 

Last summer I posted in Yellow Pencils about writing an "End of Summer" poem. Now let's write an "Ode to Spring." An ode is a poem that is addressed to the thing you're writing about. 

I'll get us started. You fill in with your creative, spring-like images. 

Ode to Spring

Spring, I love your _____________________________. 

I don't like when you ___________________________.

When the wind _______________ and the trees ___________, I know you're on your way.

When the clouds ______________ and the earth smells like ____________________________, I know you can't wait to arrive.

I can't wait, either. Spring, hurry up and __________________! 

Ode to Spring

Spring, I love your blossoms like shiny pink skirts. 

I don't like when you rain all day and make my polka-dot umbrella turn inside out. 

When the wind whooshes and the trees reach up their arms, I know you're on your way.

When the clouds race and the earth smells like oozy earthworms, I know you can't wait to arrive.

I can't wait, either. Spring, hurry up and bring puddles to stomp in! 

An End of Summer Poem

Do you feel sad when summer comes to an end? I do. Right now I'm sitting in our yard swing on a gorgeous sunny day. The sun and breeze feel good on my skin, the air smells like the cedar trees around me, and I'm drinking grape juice with fizzy water. I swear I can also smell the blackberries ripening on the bushes down the road.

Because I love summer so much, it's always hard to say good-bye. I'm in the mood to tell summer why I love it so much, using metaphors (similes without "like" or "as") to fill in the lines. 

Scroll down to read my Summer Poem. Feel free to join in and write your own! 

Summer Poem

Summer, your sun is ____________________________________.

Your trees are _________________________________________.

Your shade is _________________________________________.

Summer, your sidewalks are _____________________________.

And your sky is _______________________________________.

Summer, why do I love you? 

Because your days are __________________________________

and your nights are ____________________________________.

Summer, you're the best! You're a ________________________.

Summer Poem

Summer, your sun is an exploding firework. 

Your trees are lime-green popsicles. 

Your shade is a dark, deep pool.  

Summer, your sidewalks are sizzling pancake griddles. 

And your sky is a big, blue umbrella.

Why do I love you? 

Because your days are a long, lazy bike ride  

and your nights are a cool, soft blanket.

Summer, you're the best! 

You're a jewel in my year.