Down
in the gully
East
of my house
Snake
is watching a little gray mouse.
Eek,
squeaked the mouse, Gulp,
Replied
the snake, and
That
is the end of this tale.
I've been thinking acrostics lately, so last night I started thinking about this poem. But, as you can see, as soon as I started writing the poem, my brain wanted a rhyming poem. And I really wanted to make it a Western Diamondback Rattle snake and a packrat. There were more details I wanted to include. This is a sure sign for me that I'm forcing the poem into the form I want it in rather than letting the poem be what it wants to be. In fact, I even started playing with using "tail" instead of "tale" to end the poem. That way the packrat would still be alive instead of being dinner. The point is, this is not a finished poem. I know that. The poem has told me so. I need to listen to my poems.
Here is your poetry challenge for today. Write an acrostic poem. Then listen to your poem. Where does it want to take you?
I've been thinking acrostics lately, so last night I started thinking about this poem. But, as you can see, as soon as I started writing the poem, my brain wanted a rhyming poem. And I really wanted to make it a Western Diamondback Rattle snake and a packrat. There were more details I wanted to include. This is a sure sign for me that I'm forcing the poem into the form I want it in rather than letting the poem be what it wants to be. In fact, I even started playing with using "tail" instead of "tale" to end the poem. That way the packrat would still be alive instead of being dinner. The point is, this is not a finished poem. I know that. The poem has told me so. I need to listen to my poems.
Here is your poetry challenge for today. Write an acrostic poem. Then listen to your poem. Where does it want to take you?
Children's Poetry can take you to far off lands.
Joy,
ReplyDeleteYou may feel more is wishing to be said, but I have to say I adore this as is. It's fun to read. I love the flow, the quick pace, the rhyme, the dialogue. Great fun, like a riddle. I also like that the acrostic word isn't snake. If you choose words that don't name the animals, it gives you more freedom, includes another character, etc. Once again, I can see a collection of animals in Acrostic form. I think kids would love these. I can here them reading them aloud. I think they'd memorize some too. Write other poems to give more you want to share, but don't discard the acrostic. It might be kids bedside table favorite.
HEAR them reading them--not here. Sorry for the typo.
DeleteDon't you just hate it when your fingers type the wrong word? I do it with there and their.
DeleteActually, there is an acrostic for that spells the word with the last letter in the line rather than the first. There is even a special name for them. I'm going to have to look the word up but tilliostich comes to mind. Anyway, I’ve never written one and I'm thinking how to put one of these together. I'm considering putting together a word bank of desert words that end in each letter to see what I come up with.
Joy,
DeleteYou're amazing! You'll pull it off. Believing it!
This reminded me of the old song Three Little Fishies. The first five lines almost perfectly follow that meter. Anyway, I think this is really cute. I could definitely see you adding to it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the useful tip/observation,Rosi. I'll keep three little fishies in mind when I work on this poem.
Delete