Friday, December 26, 2008

Chameleon: An Original Rhyming Acrostic Poem



I have written a few dozen acrostic poems. There's no particular theme to the collection. I just like playing around with words that pop into my head at any given moment: shadow, unicorn, seeds, nest, Pluto, moon, asteroids, cocoon, cars, lilacs, wreath, mouse, spider, willow, grass. Sometimes, I like the challenge of writing acrostic poems that rhyme. Here's a rhyming acrostic about the chameleon that I wrote a few years ago:


Chameleon
by Elaine Magliaro



Changes suits to suit

His locus. Abracadabra! Hocus-pocus! He’s

A clever

Master of disguise…a trickster who can fool the

Eyes! This

Lizard with a fashion flair takes his wardrobe

Everywhere. Predators don’t stop

Or stare.

No one even knows he’s there.






********************
At Blue Rose Girls, I have a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye entitled Snow.



Tricia has the Poetry Friday Roundup at the Miss Rumphius Effect.

12 comments:

Author Amok said...

I love the rhyms embedded in this poem, Elaine.

Mary Lee said...

Spot on! And now I'm going to have to try a rhyming acrostic. Thank for a great example!

Elaine Magliaro said...

Author Amok, thanks. I played around with this poem for years.

Mary Lee, thanks...and let me know the result of your attempt.

Anonymous said...

Don't you wish you could be a chameleon at times? I love the rhymes as well, they sneak up on you.

Elaine Magliaro said...

Jone,

I wish I could be a lot of things--Catherine Zeta Jones, Kim Basinger, an astrophysicist, a geologist--definitely a writer who has published a book of children's poems that has garnered rave reviews. I'm not sure I want to be a chameleon, though.

Julie said...

That is fantastic, Elaine! I'm going to try it, but ouch I think it looks very very difficult - adding the letter restrictions to the meter and rhyme restrictions AND - here's the worst part - making sure it makes sense. I can feel the pain already. But I will give it a shot for the next few years. Yours is beautifully done!

Elaine Magliaro said...

Thanks, Julie! I had written the rough draft of the poem in a journal years ago--and kept revisiting it from time to time. I couldn't quite get the ending right. Then there came a point at which I decided this was the best I could do--at least for the time being anyway.

Anonymous said...

Clever.

Jules at 7-Imp said...

Excellent. Like Jone, I want to be a chameleon, too.

Thanks for the Nye poem. Off excitedly to read that one.

tess said...

Hi Elaine,
You have a very nice blog here! I admire your writing and will need to explore more of your poetry -- there are 95 posts marked "original poetry"! That's amazing. Chameleon is so much fun, moves so well, and sounds so great. I have just begun a blog written expressly for children. Perhaps you would consider visiting sometime:
http://writtenforchildren.blogspot.com
Any advice would be most welcome.

Elaine Magliaro said...

Tess,

Thanks for stopping by--and for your nice comments. Welcome to the world of kidlit bloggers.

laurasalas said...

Elaine--this is adorable! I love doing rhyming acrostics--and this one is terrific. Clever, fact-filled, with great words: locus, fashion flair...Love it.