HOT TAMALE

In the cooling shade
we are eating from food trucks.
It's too hot for us.


     Do you eat food from food trucks?  What is your favorite food to eat?  This morning I ate a peach cobbler crepe from a food truck at the farmers market.  There is a food competition going on in Tucson to find the best food truck food.  So far an Indian food truck is winning.  Can you try writing a poem about food trucks today?  Have fun writing.

   Feed yourself on children's poetry.

DOVES

Maddening dove calls
coo-cooing-cooing-cooing
Squab for dinner.



Fill your paper with the breathing of your heart.  William Wadsworth

OF THIS DAY

Walk

into the morning

skies gray,

clouds cover,

rain--

a bluesy day.

Put feet

on the floor,

brush teeth,

plaster a smile.

Walk into this morning

make something beautiful.

   This is another poem that reads well, line by line, in either direction.  This is always a good sign for me that I've got only the essential words I need to convey the meaning of the poem.  I pulled a lot of words out of my draft.  I had considered using the title for the last line of the poem, but in revision I decided I didn't need that line.  I also had a simile--rain falls like tears-- but I thought that was a cliche, I'd heard that before.  So I got rid of the simile, and it left me with the question of What can rain do but fall? So it becomes redundant to say rain falls. I got rid of falls, too.  Now it is your turn.  Can you write a poem about the weather in your part of the country?  Then, after you have a draft, can you go back and get rid of every extra, redundant, cliche word you can find?  My critique group used to tease that they bring their poems and go home with haiku after we took out everything extra, all the words that didn't contribute to the meaning of the poem.  And, if you think that is bad, try critiquing haiku.  It is a fun challenge because absolutely every word has to count--exactly what writers of picture books are told when they write 100 word stories.

  The Poetry Friday Round Up is hosted by Buffy Silverman  this week.  You can find other poems by children's poets at her blog, Buffy's Blog 
  Thank you Buffy for hosting us this week.
   Just curious, are you like me?  Every time Friday rolls around, I feel like my poem for the day isn't good enough.  I look at poems I've posted earlier in the week and think I should have waited and posted that poem for Friday.

   Children's Poetry can make sunny days.

KANGAROO

A kangaroo

alone and blue

didn't know

what to do.

So she hopped

to Timbuktu

where she met

a cockatoo

who said

his name

was Stu.

Your challenge for today is to pick an animal.  Name it, and write a poem about the animal's friend.  What makes a friend?  What do you like best about your friends?  Have you ever lost a friend?  How did that feel?  Have fun writing your poem. 

     There are many reasons to write a children's poem.

PIZZA

Let's all try
some of this pizza pie.

"I can't,"  said the ant.
"It's not too big," said the pig.
"Oh yes," said the lioness.

"I'm in," said the pigeon.
"I will," said the hornbill.
"I also will," said the gerbil.

"I shall," said the serval.
"I can," said the toucan.
"I might," said the bobwhite.

"I'll try," said the fly.
"I may," said the stingray.
"I must," said the cow, "eat the crust."

"May I have anchovy?" asked the muscovy.
"We'll see," said the bee.
"I'll eat half," said the giraffe.

"You would, of course," said the horse.
Then it was the hen who said,
"Let's dig in."

   This was a fun poem to execute once I had the idea.  I took all the ways I could think of to try to say, "YES!" and then tried to find animals that would rhyme with my yes-words.  Can you think of other ways to say "YES!" Please let me know.  I did have some left-over animals like bruin, duckbill, spoonbill, blue gill, Parmesan (oops, that's not an animal,) termite, snake, and nene(the Hawaiian State Bird). Did you know a serval is an African cat and a muscovy is a kind of duck named after Moscow?
   Just for fun try writing your own poem to say NO.
  

Writing poetry for children is better than eating pizza.

FAVORITE FOOD

"Moo," said Cow,
"this tastes like, WOW!"
"Oink, oink," said Pig,
"this pie I dig."
Tomato said, "Squish."
"Pizza is our favorite dish."

     What is your favorite food?  Can you write a poem about the foods you like to eat today?  This refrain started out as a quatrain, with lines 2 and 4 missing.  but as I worked on the poem, I was having fun, so I switched it to couplets.  I called it a refrain because I'm thinking this poem is going to work its way into a rhyming picture book.  Can you figure out why a cow, a pig, and a tomato are the main characters of this poem?

A children's poem makes you tap your toes and snap your fingers.

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF JUNE

The sprinklers are on.
I'm running through,
trying to stay cool.
How about you?

    I was out earlier today, driving past a bank with a time/temperature display.  It showed the temperature at 115!  At first I thought that might be the time but it switched to the time display of 2:20.  On the radio news this morning was story about the snow that is still piled high in some parts of Boston.  It is a crazy world we live in.  Is there anything crazy, or something that doesn't make sense that you have noticed?  Try making the experience into a poem.  Have fun writing.

The world can be yours in a children's poem.