Monday, October 17, 2011

Monday Poetry Stretch - Children's Book Inspiration

I was thinking about selecting words for a prompt today, but then decided it might be more fun is you could pick your own, within some parameters. So, here's the challenge. Head over to Fuse #8 and check out the titles on the Top 100 Picture Books Poll. Pick a title with at least three words. Write the words in the title down the page and use these words as the first line in your new poem. 

For example, if I chose IN THE NIGHT KITCHEN, my poem starter would look like this.

In
the
night
kitchen

And the starter for MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS would look like this.

Make
way 
for 
ducklings.

Easy-peasy, right? Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

9 comments:

  1. I'm up early today and (finally) back in black:

    http://tinyurl.com/3w5m5ft

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  2. Millions of Cats

    Millions, like tiny points
    of stars, clusters, galaxies,
    cats figure in my dreams;
    the dear cats of my life,
    now in a heaven where St Peter
    opens the gates to their innocence
    into a meadow filled with mice,
    catnip, and a loving lap
    that they can fill with purr.

    ©2011 Jane Yolen all rights reserved

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  3. You've won a Liebster Award!

    http://kiddosphere.blogspot.com/2011/10/liebster-award.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Relatives Came

    The relatives came,
    and now I'm leaving,
    The relatives came.

    My cousin Minna eats my books.
    My cousin Edgar
    has fingers like hooks.
    The relatives came,
    and now I'm leaving.

    My Aunt Petrina cooks up goop.
    She smiles too wide
    and calls it soup.
    The relatives came,
    and now I'm leaving.

    My Uncle Bentley fixes things.
    He gives them voices,
    gears, and wings.
    The relatives came,
    and now I'm leaving.

    My Grandpa Harold does tattoos.
    He never asks
    if you want him to.
    The relatives came,
    and now I'm leaving.

    My Grandma Ellen is a voodoo queen.
    She's a little too fond
    of Halloween.
    The relatives came,
    and now I'm leaving.

    Oh, some people's relatives
    are boring and bland.
    They talk about taxes
    in tones like sand.
    But my relations
    aren't boring at all.
    They've come to visit—
    don't bother to call.

    I'm leaving.

    —Kate Coombs, 2011, all rights reserved

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  6. Counting Sheep

    Where do they keep the leaping sheep,
    the ones who put us fast asleep?
    Wild and wooly, musky and grey—
    things we count at end of day—
    are they coming to chase the night away?

    @2011 jg krantz all rights reserved

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  7. Jane, Kate & Steven--what good, fun poems!

    Jane--love the lap filled 'with purr!'

    And Kate, When the Relatives Came is one of my favorite PBs. I'm glad you chose to write a poem about it--and what a looney bunch of relatives, especially Grandma & Grandpa!

    Steven--i like this more and more each time i read it--wish I were better versed in Peter Pan--was Capt. Hook's last name really 'James?'

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  8. I have books on the brain this week, but my muse went elsewhere and I followed:

    The Crooked Captain Hook
    By Steven Withrow


    My first name, dear reader, is James.
    But that is just one of my names.
    I acquired the hook Hook
    When the crocodile took
    Off my hand...
    Oh, the depths of my shame!

    Yet my story’s true villain is Pan.
    He’s the boy-who-will-never-be-man.
    His delightful good form
    Is a shipwrecking storm
    To a captain…
    But I’ve got a plan!

    I’ve a perilous plank he will walk.
    Watch Peter Pan sink like a rock.
    And his Lost Boys I’ll bait
    And his Wendy will—wait
    Do you hear
    The tick-tock of the clock?

    Do you hear
    the tick-tock
    of the clock?



    ©2011 Steven Withrow all rights reserved

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  9. This is only 2 words but I like the poem so here it goes.

    DRAGON FIRE

    Dragon Fire
    An orange breathing flame!
    Fire Extinguisher?
    So much for that game.

    (c) Charles Waters 2011 all rights reserved.

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