FRIENDS

Joe is a girafee.
Tom is a turtle.

"Come on friend,
Let's go play,"
said Joe.

"Oh, NO!
We cannot
be friends," said Tom.

"Ridiculous.
Why can't we be friends?"
asked Joe.
"I want to know."

"Because you're so tall
and I'm so small
way down here below,"
said Tom.

"Ridiculous,"
repeated Joe.

"You like to eat acacia leaves
high up on acacia trees.
You're so big, you frighten me,"
said Tom pulling into his shell.

"RIDICULOUS!"

"You walk fast
and gallop as you go.
I toddle along.
Turtles go s-l-o-w."

"Ridiculous, I don't think so," said Joe.

"Oh yes," said Tom.
"With four long legs
you're fast when you flee,
and I worry.
You might kick me.
Oh NO!  Friends--
we can never be."

"Hmmmm," thought Joe.
"Let me see.  If I can find
one thing that is the same,
will you then
play a game?"

"I guess, maybe.
But what can that be?
I'm asking you, Joe
with your head
in that tree."

"Tom, that's it," said Joe.
"How we're the same,
I think I know.
I stick out my neck 
to get these acacia leaves.
I'll drop some down
for you to see.
Now you can eat along with me.

"But you, little turtle,
must stick out your neck too,
to eat the leaves
I've dropped for you."

"For being good friends
takes more than kisses and pecks
it requires
sticking out our necks."

     This is very new, and very rough, but I'm having fun working on a drawing to go with it which is fun for me too.  I'll continue to do some editing and polishing. There are a lot of reversed rhymes, and I'm going to have to work to get rid of these forced rhymes.   This started because I was having fun saying, ridiculous.  And I knew I wanted to use the word. 
    Can you write your own poem today based upon a single word like ridiculous, shucks, gosh, yes, no, or another word?  Have fun.

Whiptail Lizard

The whiptail lizard is a fast paced lizard

and a very quick lizard is he.

He dashed past the ocotillo.

He raced by the barrel cactus

and ran up a Palo Verde tree.

     I've been playing with nursery rhymes again.  This poem uses several synonyms.
Can you find them?  Synonyms are words that mean the same thing.  So fast paced, dashed, raced, and ran all mean that the lizard moved very quickly.
    You can try writing a poem like this by picking an animal and then trying to load your poem with synonyms.

 The grizzly bear is a big old bear

and a huge old bear is he.

He ate a large fish,

swallowed lots of honey,

and got stung by a gigantic bee.

    Can you find the other words that mean big in this poem? 

   Now it is your turn to try it.  You might want to use a dictionary or a thesaurus.  Have fun. You're welcome to share your poem in the comments at the bottom of this page.  I'd love to see the animal you pick and the synonyms you use.