A Poem a Day #15

My mask poem today is for Gail Maki Wilson of Through the Studio Door. Gail is an artist who also has her own website. You just may want to visit Gail’s website to have a look at her fine illustrations. Gail informed me the day I launched my new blog that she was adding Wild Rose Reader to her “good blog reads.” Gail, I appreciate your support. Thanks!


BLUE WHALE’S BOAST
by Elaine Magliaro

I’m the biggest whale
in the big blue sea.
I’m blubbery big
as a whale should be.

I’m bigger than
an elephant
three rhinos,
a giraffe.

I’m bigger than
ten walruses
twos hippos
and a half.

There’s nothing
in the world
that’s bigger than me…
except, of course,
for the big blue sea!


COLLABORATIVE CLASS MASK POEMS

I sometimes visited with other classes in my school to lead poetry-writing sessions. Here are collaborative poems I wrote with two different second grade classes:

PENGUIN
A Class Poem by Mrs. Berg’s Class

I am a penguin,
chubby in my black and white
suit,
waddling on the slippery ice,
sliding on my big belly
into the freezing cold sea.
SPLASH!
Here I come, fish.
I’m hungry as can be!


MONARCH
A Group Poem by Mrs. Baker’s Class

I chew on a milkweed leaf
so yummy.
I wiggle around on a green stage.
I hang upside down
like a bat
and shed my striped skin.

Inside my green and gold chrysalis
I grow my bright orange wings.
Someday I will be
a beautiful monarch
and fly around free
in a field of flowers.

Try writing a mask poem of your own. It's fun! I especially enjoy speaking in the voices of different animals. But you can imagine yourself to be the sun, the moon, a snowflake, the rain, the wind, the ocean, a tree...anything! Who or what would you pretend to be in a mask poem that you wrote?

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

WHEN RIDDLES COME RUMBLING: POEMS TO PONDER

Written by Rebecca Kai Dotlich

Illustrated by Karen Dugan

Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press

2001

Many of the poems in this book are not just mask poems--they are riddle rhymes to boot! It would be fun to read these rhythmic, rhyming riddles aloud to children and ask them to guess whose "voice" is speaking in each poem. The voices include those of a snake, a pizza, fireworks, a trampoline, and a roller coaster. The illustrations will help children guess the answers to the riddles.

BUTTERFLY EYES AND OTHER SECRETS OF THE MEADOW

Written by Joyce Sidman

Illustrated by Beth Krommes

Houghton Mifflin

2006

All of the poems in this book are riddles; many of them are also mask poems. Winner of the 2006 Cybils Award for Poetry, this book contains outstanding examples of mask poems. Some of the "voices" speaking to us in the poems are those of the dew, a grasshopper, a spittlebug, xylem and phloem, a milkweed plant, and a hawk. The illustrations in this book also provide clues for young readers to help them solve the riddles. You can read my review of BUTTERFLY EYES here.

ADDENDUM

Check out my A Poem a Day #14 post for links to some collaborative class poems I wrote with students at the Malcolm Bell School. You'll also find recommendations for children's poetry books with some great mask poems that are sure to inspire children to write their very own poems.