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This is my playground for poetry written for children with ideas and inspiration for writing your own poems. Come on in. Sit for a spell, have a cup of words to swirl around and make your own cup of poetry. I'm so glad you are here. I hope you'll find the Kingdom of Poetry a fun place to be.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Yellow Swallowtails

Kayak
paddle
drips
fractures
the water
prisms
crystal
light
rising
like
golden
swallow-
tails

     Today's poem could be called a spine poem because it is long and skinny like a spine.  Each line break is supposed to cause a momentary pause for the reader to reflect on the image of the word.  Each line (except for one) only has one word like the lone kayaker paddling.  The funny thing to me is that normally I use very few articles in my  poems (words like the, a  or an) but I tried removing the and it changed the meaning for me.  
     Normally, I don't break words in a poem, like I've done here with swallow/tails--but that is what the poem has asked me to do. What does this do to the poem to have the last word fractured?
     Would you call this a concrete poem?  Is it in the shape of a kayak for you?   

      Would you like to try writing your own spine poem today?  Or try your own concrete poem.
       Oh, this is fun.  I'm thinking of summer activities and spine poems.  Of course the very first thing that pops into my mind is a book spine.

resting
in the 
hammock
shade
from
two
oak
trees
a favorite
summer
beach
read 
in
my 
hands.

     The words aren't perfect yet, but I have the general idea down.  Do you know what a "beach read" is?  It is one of those quick-read books one reads for fun.
I didn't start this with a capital letter because I wanted the writing to be lazy like the summer day.  I'm going to have to decide if that is a good decision, but that can wait for later after all the words are right.  
     Now I'm thinking it will be fun to see if I can shape this poem into a horizontal banana shape like a hammock slung between two trees.  I hope you have as much fun with your poem as I'm having with mine.  Happy Saturday.

1 comment:

  1. Lovely--comparing the kayak paddle to yellow swallowtails.

    Other topics I might consider for spine poems include porcupine quills and cactus thorns. Ouch!

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