I’ve
mentioned many times on this blog how much I enjoy writing animal mask poems. I
have quite a collection of them. A couple of years ago at the suggestion of two
friends and writing advisers (Grace Lin and Janet Wong), I culled the poems
about smaller animals that children might observe in their backyards or close
to home--earthworms, frogs, spiders, butterflies, etc.--for a collection that I call Backyard Voices. I also began writing more
poems about little creatures that most children are familiar with for the collection.
In addition,
I took the poems about bigger and/or boastful animals (grizzly bear, blue
whale, lion, toucan) and put them in a separate collection tentatively titled Loud and
Proud. As
I was reading through my Loud and Proud manuscript this morning, I found a poem
about a rooster I had forgotten that I had written. (I love finding forgotten poems!) Here it is:
ROOSTER
Cock-a-doodle-doodle-do!
The
sun is rising. You should too.
Wake
up! Wake up, sleepyhead.
Get
your body out of bed.
Cock-a-doodle-doodle-do!
I
bring the morning news to you.
It’s
the dawn of a brand new day.
That’s
something to crow about, I’d say!
********************
The super blogger Jama Rattigan has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Alphabet Soup today.
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6 comments:
Love your animal mask poems, and both collections sound fabulous (great titles for them, too).
Cock-a-doodle-wow!
What great concepts for a poetry collection. And "Rooster" is such a delightful rise-and-shine poem - thanks for sharing it!
Sounds like my neighborhood, which is full of roosters!
I love them all, Elaine. What a gift you have for taking just the essence of the thing for the mask. This is great!
Love it! I have this thing for roosters, since my last name means rooster in German!!!
"Rise and shine poems": the world definitely needs MANY more of these! Wouldn't it be great if there was a "wake up poem clock" that read a "wake up poem" to you instead of buzzing?
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