Friday, March 16, 2012

Things to Do If You Are a Giraffe: A First Draft


I continue to work on revisions for my Things to Do poetry manuscript. I'm hoping I'll be done in a few weeks.

I had forgotten that some time ago I got the idea of writing an entire collection of "things to do" poems about animals. I had already written several and thought it might be a good execrise for me. I even read through some of the other animal poems--including mask poems--that I had written over the years and tried rewriting them as "things to do" poems. Here is the first draft of one of them:

Things to Do If You Are a Giraffe

Have long lanky legs,

Spotted hair, knobby knees.

Nibble the leaves

From the tip-tops of trees.

Be quiet and shy.

Stretch your neck up so high

You can wink at the birds

As they go flying by.

  

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Gregory Pincus has the Poetry Friday Roundup at GottaBook.

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Happy Saint Patrick's Day
from Julia!


5 comments:

jama said...

Oh! Look at Julia! Adorable, as usual. :)

Love your giraffe poem, especially the ending. ;)

Happy St. Paddy's, Elaine.

Liz Steinglass said...

I really like this form. Your post last week inspired me to try one about the crocus. I'm looking forward to your book. I think kids and teachers will love it.
Thanks for sharing!
Liz

Linda B said...

I think when I have time I'd like to try this idea, Elaine, just for the challenge. You make it look so easy. I too like that ending. And-Julia is so adorable. Thanks for sharing her pics with us.

Mary Lee said...

My students had some fun with list poems this week...and so did I!!!

Ken Higginson said...

I found your blog today via a link from Kenn Nesbitt's site. Your giraffe poem is great! I happened to write and illustrate a giraffe poem almost on the same day which is quite a coincidence. Its called The Tell-A-Giraffe. Please Take a look if you have a spare moment. I would love to know what you think of my work. WWW.BananaBigTime.com (my personal blogg).