A Poem a Day #12

Today’s poem is for Mary Lee and Franki at A Year of Reading. Having read some of the posts at their blog, I believe I can safely infer that these two ladies must be dy-no-mite teachers! Got to love their list of 100 Cool Teachers in Children’s Literature and their list of Books about Books and Reading.

From a longtime teacher to Mary Lee and Franki: Keep up the great work in school and at A Year of Reading!

Here's a poem of address written in the form of a FAX. I got my inspiration for writing poems about Pluto when I was working on my review of COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS, Douglas Florian’s most recent collection of poems and paintings about space.

INTERPLANETARY FAX
by Elaine Magliaro

TO: Pluto
DATE: August 24, 2006
RE: Demotion to Dwarf Status

Sorry, Pluto, you’re way too small.
You’re just an itty-bitty ball…
An insignificant cosmic dot…
A speck in the Milky Way. You’re not
Considered a planet anymore.
Here’s your pink slip; there’s the door.
You’re off the list. Goodbye! Adieu!
Don’t go making a hullabaloo.
There’s nothing…nothing…you can do.
Accept your fate.

FROM: IAU

I was inspired by Douglas Florian’s book to write the following poem, too. I posted it at Blue Rose Girls in my Update: Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars…and Pluto.

PLUTO POEM
by Elaine Magliaro

Pluto, Pluto, once a planet.
Made of ice…and, maybe granite,
A distant, tiny, frigid sphere
Demoted to a "dwarf" last year.

Pluto, Pluto, once a planet.
Astronomers said: "We should can it.
It’s much too small; its orbit’s odd
It’s named after a nasty god."

Pluto, Pluto, once a planet.
The IAU? It chose to ban it
From the planetary club.
That’s a solar systemic snub!!!

(IAU stands for the International Astronomical Union.)