Friday, November 30, 2012

TERMITES: An Original Animal Mask Poem





I know I’ve mentioned more than once on this blog that I LOVE writing animal mask poems. I have written dozens of them. A few years ago, I took the advice of my friends Grace Lin and Janet Wong and culled out all the poems about smaller animals and insects that children might observe in their backyards or find close to home for a collection. I also wrote some new poems. I had tentatively titled the collection Backyard Voices. Then I changed it to Listen! Listen! after I wrote the following poem to introduce my collection of animal mask poems:

Listen. Listen. Cup an ear.
Little creatures living near
Speak in voices we can hear.

One of the new poems that I wrote for Listen! Listen! is about insects that we hate to find invading our homes—TERMITES.

TERMITES

Crunch, crunch, crunch!
Yum, yum!
Wood
Tastes so
Tastes so
Tastes so good.
A piney plank
A two by four
A big broad beam
A parquet floor
A pair of clogs
A tool shed door
We eat all day
And we still want more.
Crunch, crunch, crunch!
Yum, yum!
Wood
Tastes so
Tastes so
Tastes SO GOOD.
 
 
Amy has the Poetry Friday Roundup at The Poem Farm.
 
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We had a wonderful family Thanksgiving at "The Farm." Julia didn't sleep all day. She so enjoyed having lots of company.
 
Julia on Thanksgiving



This week I took Julia outside  a couple of times so she could explore her yard. I took this short video of her:
 


It is great being a nanny granny! I love spending so much time with my granddaughter Julia.

 

 


5 comments:

jama said...

Oh Termites! Great poem about those hungry uninvited guests.

Enjoyed the video. Julia has gotten SO big! What pretty blue eyes :).

Susan Taylor Brown said...

Hate the termites but I love the poem! Love the idea of your animal mask collection too!

Janet Wong said...

Oh, my: Julia is growing up so fast. She'll be able to recite your poems back to you pretty soon.

Planks, parquet, clogs--your termites have quite a varied diet!

Amy LV said...

I love that Tastes so/Tastes so/Tastes so good! What a fun poem - and what a beautiful Julia. Lucky both of you! I missed you at NCTE, Elaine... xo, a.

Rebecca Gomez said...

Love it! Funny how wonderful a poem about something completely icky can be.