Animal couplets

A little brown toad

jumped along the road.

A brown kangaroo

hopped along too.

A tiger on the prowl

stopped to growl.

Where were they all going to?

Australia or Timbuktu?

Now think of an animal. How does it move? Can you think of a word that rhymes with your movement word? For instance, A little red panda skips; a dolphin swimming flips. So write your own poem about a traveling menagerie. Where are they going and what will they do when they get there? Have fun writing your poem.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

My mother, the youngest daughter

of the Iowa farmer's ten children

pumped a hand car to ride to school.

She fed the chickens, detassled the corn

and played trombone in the community band.

Worked hard all her life.

Drove a fork lift at Douglas aircraft

during the war.

Married my father, the bigamist,

had two daughters

got a teaching credential.

Needed extra money to pay off

the debts of that bigamist,

to pay for the divorce lawyer.

She got a night job

at a drive in theater

as a bookkeeper.

Then married her boss

kept his books

while he drank any profit.

She sent those two

girls to college

and graduate school.

When she retired

she moved to the beach

began china painting.

Adorned each cup and saucer,

each plate and jelly jar

or butter dish with flowers.

Each creation the perfection

of strawberry, gold finch

cardinal or dogwood.

Her art, lives on

bringing joy and happiness

to me as I eat my toast

on this Mother's Day morning

thinking of Mom.

My friend Bridget Magee www.weewordsforweeones.blogspot.com and I both wrote Mother's Day poems to post today. You can read her poem at the link above. Did you write a poem for your own mother? Can you? You can post your poem in the comments section below.

Here's hoping you have a great Mother's Day.

Five Brown Chickens

Five brown chickens

in the barn scratching

looking for a place

for their eggs' hatching.  

Along comes the farmer,

he gives a big HOOT

then under the fence

the chickens all scoot.

CLUCK says the first chicken

as she takes the dive.

CLUCK, CLUCK says the second

as she tries to stay alive.

CLUCK, CLUCK, CLUCK

says the third one

LET'S NOT BE RUDE.

CLUCK, CLUCK, CLUCK, CLUCK

says the fourth, LET'S LOOK FOR FOOD.

But the fifth was the rooster

he called,COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO

LET'S GET OUT OF HERE

BEFORE WE'RE IN THE STEW.

     Do you like chickens?  How about trying a chicken poem today?  Have you read many chicken haiku?  Maybe that will work for you.  Have a great Saturday.
And if you hatch something interesting, please share your poem with me.  You know egg-sactly what I mean.

Golden Treasure

I thought I saw

 yellow swallowtails

flitting past

flying in a cross formation.

Then I recognized

this treasure rare

was four goldfinch

flying there.

     Do your eyes often see things differently than what they really are?  You'll see a face in a crowd and think it is a friend and as you walk toward them, you realize it isn't. 
     I often misread signs when I look at them quickly.  Usually it is with a humorous result.  For instance, I'll see a sign that cautions, "Be careful walking up the stairs," and I'll misread it as, "Be careful walking up the stars."  It does instantly take me to a poem I want to write about walking among the stars.
     So here is today's challenge--write a persona poem from the voice of the sun or the moon, or even a star.  Perhaps you want to have a conversation between them. What do they see?  Do they get tired doing the same thing day after day, night after night?  What do they do for fun?
     I hope you have fun writing your poem.  Please share your verses with me in the comments.

What's Your Story, Morning Glory

Blue Morning Glories

sway on their vine,

dance in the wind,

looking divine.

In the morning

droplets of dew

rest on their petals,

bluer than blue.

Turning their faces

toward the sun,

bright in the morning

then evening they're done.


     Here is a quick challenge.  See how many different kinds of flowers you can name in a minute.  Make a list.  Now select one flower from your bouquet and write your poem about that flower today.  Have fun and if you'd like to share your poem, please leave it in the comments.

Angel Trumpet

This morning there was a green spider on the Angel Trumpet flower.

This is a persona poem in the voice of the spider.

I went to a jazz club

late last night.

Everything was in

black and white.

I jumped on the stage

in my green suit,

grabbed a trumpet

to toot, toot, toot.

     Find a comfortable place to sit for a while.  Make a list of all the sounds you hear.  Can you write a poem using some of the sounds?
    Have fun writing.

I Am Who I Am

I push my way 

    out of a cocoon.

I dry my wings 

    in the sun until noon.

Then I'll flit

     and flutter by

Because I am

    a butterfly.


     This is a persona poem. It is written in the voice of the butterfly.  Many riddle poems are also persona poems when they ask the question, "Who am I?" 
Can you write your own persona poem.  Think of a common object.  It could be your backpack, lunch box, your dog or even your goldfish swimming around in a bowl.  Write a poem in that object's voice.  What would your goldfish want you to know?  Or write a riddle poem.  What ever you do, remember to use your five senses and have fun with your creation.