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Last year, before the start of National Poetry Month, I decided that I would post a poem every day during April--just as Gregory K. of GottaBook was planning to do. Then I began to worry that I wouldn't be able to write thirty original poems in thirty days. I began looking through folders of poems I had written years ago. I hoped to find some poems that I wouldn't be embarrassed to post at Wild Rose Reader.

What I hadn't realized until then was the number of animal mask poems that I had written over the years. That's when I got the idea of working on a collection of poems told from the perspective of different animals--including frogs, a snake, a lion, a grizzly bear, a spider, a butterfly pupa, and earthworms. I've already posted some of those poems at Wild Rose Reader.

One thing I often find problematic when writing poems is coming up with a clever or surprising ending. I'm always disappointed when a poem I'm reading builds up expectations and then falls flat in the last few lines.

I wrote most of this earthworm poem months ago. Actually, the poem nearly wrote itself--but I just couldn't come up with an ending that worked. I thought I would revisit that poem today...and finish it. I'm not sure that I won't rewrite the ending--but here it is in its "second draft" stage.


Earthworms
by Elaine Magliaro

We have…

No bones
No shells
No teeth, as well—
No lips, no beaks
No chins, no cheeks
No horns, no claws
No talons, jaws
No legs, no wings…
No fancy things
Like fins or scales
Or fluffy tails,
Or blubber like the big blue whales.

We’re soft.
We’re small…
Not much at all.
We’re nondescript—
But we’re equipped
To eat your dirt.
It doesn’t hurt
Us...not a bit.
In fact,
We like the taste of it.
We toil in soil.
We’ve got true grit!

Here are the mask poems I posted previously at Wild Rose Reader. I thought I’d include them all in one post in response to this week’s Poetry Stretch—Mask Poems at The Miss Rumphius Effect.


LOOK AT US NOW!
by Elaine Magliaro

The day we hatched from jellied eggs…
We looked like fish.
We had no legs.
We breathed through gills.
We had no lungs.
We didn’t have long sticky tongues.
We didn’t look like frogs…for sure.
But then we started to mature.
And day by day we changed and grew.
To tails and gills we bid adieu.
Now we have lungs and four fine limbs…
And we can croak
and jump
AND
swim!


THOUGHTS OF THE WOLF AS HE DESCENDS THE THIRD LITTLE PIG’S CHIMNEY
by Elaine Magliaro

This Pig’s outwitted me before.
No, I won’t knock upon his door,
Won’t threaten him, won’t huff and puff.
I’m finished with that macho stuff.
WELL…down the chimney here I go.
I’ll get that little pig. Ho, ho!
Can’t wait to taste his tender meat,
His juicy snout, his porky feet.
I’ll serve him up with grated cheese,
Potatoes, parsley, parsnips, peas.
Yeh! That’s my kind of swiney grub.
Uh-oh!
Splish-splash!
Bubble!GLUB!
I guess I’m in hot water now.
Goodbye, cruel world.
I’m piggy chow!


GRIZZLY BEAR
by Elaine Magliaro

I’m grizzly bear. I’m fierce and fat…
And dangerous. Remember that!
My teeth are sharp as sabers.
My curvy claws can cut like saws,
And when I prowl the woods I growl
And frighten all my neighbors.
I rule this land. These woods are mine!
I ain’t NOBODY’S valentine!
Don’t think that you can be my friend…
My dinner?
Yum!
GULP!

The End


JUST A SCENTIMENTAL GUY
by Elaine Magliaro

I’m black and white.
My tail’s all fluff.
I never growl.I don’t act tough.
I wander into yards at night.
I’m really harmless…
I don’t bite
Or snarl
Or scratch
Or kick
Or pounce.
I just dispense scents by the ounce.
That’s how I frighten foes away—
I lift my bushy tail and SPRAY!

I do not need long fangs or claws,
Bulging muscles,
Mighty jaws.
My malodorous defense,
I think,
Makes a lot of SCENTS!

So if you see me take my pose
To ward off predatory foes…
Just stand back and hold your nose!


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!


SNAKE SOLILOQUY
by Elaine Magliaro

I’m a slippery slitherer
silent and sleek
sliding and slinking
through grasses
I sneak...
weaving and winding
legless and low
I slip slyly hidden
wherever I go.
Wending and bending
by stalk, stem, and stone
like a ribbon of muscle
and skin without bone
tongue catching the scent
of a soft, furry prey.
Smells like it’s field mouse
for dinner today!


FOR SALE: FAIRY TALE ARTIFACT
by Elaine Magliaro

My magic mirror is for sale.
It’s such an awful tattletale!
It told me things about my foe
I’d really rather never know.
I MUST be fairest in the land…
Not second best! You understand?
I want to be the most divine.
My reputation’s on the line!

The seven dwarfs are little cretins!
They should be in the dungeon, beaten.
They foiled my plans to kill the lass.
So…now I’ll sell my looking glass
And spend the cash on wrinkle cream,
A nose job, and a health regime,
Two weekends at a beauty spa.
Then I’ll look like a movie star.

I’ll be the fairest in the land!
And Snow White? She can go pound sand!


LETTER FROM THE QUEEN OF BEASTS
by Elaine Magliaro

Dear Lion,

I’m tired of doing the hunting, the preying
While your only job is to watch the cubs playing.
I’m tired of stalking the zebras and gnus
While you lie around on the grassland and snooze.
I’m tired of running, and pouncing, and killing.
I want a career that is much more fulfilling.
I’m tired, so tired. I’m spent to the core.
While I’m hard at work, you just eat, sleep, and snore.
I fetch all the food. You grow stronger…I thinner.
For the next seven days you can catch your own dinner!
I’m going away for a well-needed rest.
I’ll be seeing you soon.

All my love,
Lioness

I read Tricia’s post Leap into the Year of the Frog at The Miss Rumphius Effect and found out about the efforts of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to call people’s attention to the fact that many amphibian species are threatened with extinction. For your information, I have included an excerpt from AZA’s website:

“Frogs are going extinct. So are toads, salamanders, newts, and the intriguingly unusual caecilians. In fact, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) estimates that at least one-third of known amphibian species are threatened with extinction. While the major culprit has historically been habitat loss and degradation, many of the declines and extinctions previously referred to as "enigmatic" are now being attributed to the rapidly dispersing infectious disease chytridiomycosis, which is caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). Bd is causing population and species extinctions at an alarming rate. Can you imagine if we were about to lose one-third of the world's mammals?”


Here is a mask poem I wrote about frogs, which I am dedicating to The Year of the Frog.

LOOK AT US NOW!
by Elaine Magliaro

The day we hatched from jellied eggs…
We looked like fish.
We had no legs.
We breathed through gills.
We had no lungs.
We didn’t have long sticky tongues.
We didn’t look like frogs…for sure.
But then we started to mature.
And day by day we changed and grew.
To tails and gills we bid adieu.
Now we have lungs and four fine limbs…
And we can croak
and jump
AND

A Toad by the Road: A Year in the Life of These Amazing Amphibians
Written by Joanne Ryder
Illustrated by Maggie Kneen
Henry Holt

To read my review of this poetry collection, click here.

Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs
Written & illustrated by Douglas Florian
Harcourt

I enjoy all of Douglas Florian’s collections of animal poems. Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs is one of my favorites. The rhythmic, rhyming, lighthearted amphibian and reptile poems in this book are full of clever wordplay and are lots of fun to read aloud. This book is sure to be a hit with children and adults alike. The collection includes poems about polliwogs, spring peepers, a glass frog, the newt, the wood frog, the red-eyed tree frog, a bullfrog, and poison-dart frogs.

Here’s an excerpt from The Wood Frog, a poem about a hibernating amphibian:

My temperature is ten degrees.
I froze my nose, my toes,my knees.
But I don’t care, I feel at ease,
For I am full of antifreeze.

Marsh Music
Written by Marianne Berkes
Ilustrated By Robert Noreika
Millbrook

As night arrives, a marsh comes alive with music. A bullfrog maestro raises a baton and starts to conduct a chorus of different species of frogs as they begin singing:

The rain has stopped.
Night is coming.
The pond awakes with
Quiet humming.

Maestro frog hops to the mound
As night begins to fill with sound.

Peepers peep pe-ep, peep, peep.
They have had a good day’s sleep!

Chorus frogs are hard to see.
Hear them chirping do re mi.

Other frogs and toads join in, including green frogs and American toads and wood frogs and pig frogs. Two leopard frogs pirouette and leap through the air as they dance ballet on lily pads. Even stars “are twinkling to the tune/As they dance around the moon."

Then dawn arrives, the maestro puts down his baton, and the frogs go to sleep. The marsh is quiet…but not for long…because another marsh melody is heard—that of a bird!

The back matter of the book includes a Glossary of Musical Terms with definitions for certain words used in the text—including adagio, moderato, percussion, and woodwinds. It also includes two pages with information about “The Cast” of amphibian performers named in the book: “Maestro” Bullfrog, Spring Peepers, Chorus Frogs, American Toads, Green Frogs, Narrow-mouthed Toads, Wood Frogs, Pig Frogs, Green Tree Frogs, Leopard Frogs, Barking Tree Frogs.

INFORMATIONAL BOOKS WRITTEN IN VERSE

Here’s how the book begins:

The
GRAY
TREEFROG
is
quite
a
clown.
It leaps about,
then
settles
down.

With suction cups
upon its toes,
it clings to things.
Then off it goes.

Depending
on the
temperature,
the
dampness,
or
the light…
it’s sometimes gray
or
green or brown and sometimes pearly white.

The book goes on to inform readers, briefly, about other “camouflaged’ amphibians: the meadow frog, arum frog, the horn frog, cat-eyed tree frog, green toad, and salamander.

Frogs Sing Songs
Written by Yvonne Winer
Illustrated by Tony Oliver
Charlesbridge

I can’t find my copy of Frogs Sing Songs at the moment—so here is a review of the book from Booklist:

From Booklist - April 30, 2003
“This lyrical companion to Winer's Birds Build Nests (2001) makes a strong environmental statement about saving frogs, from Africa to the Artic. On each double-page spread, one of Winer's short, simple poems appears under a spot illustration of a frog. Opposite is a full-page, vivid, realistic watercolor illustration of that particular species in its natural habitat. Each of the poems begins with the refrain, "Frogs sing their songs," then the following four lines reveal beautiful details about that frog and the sounds it makes. The book closes with a two-page frog identification guide for each of the 15 species shown in the book, complete with physical descriptions of specific sounds, from an oxlike bellow to a baby rattle. Words and pictures celebrate the varied coloring and sounds and the amazing adaptability of frogs around the world; and children will celebrate the creatures, too.”

Be sure to check out Tricia’s post Leaping Into Books About Frogs (And Other Amphibians) for more book recommendations.

At Blue Rose Girls, I have a great poem by Sherman Alexie entitled Powwow at the End of the World.

Kelly Fineman has the Poetry Friday Roundup.

Apologies in advance, but I just had to share this....

As of today the Jesus Storybook Bible, that I illustrated for most of last year, has just hit #26 on the MOVERS AND SHAKERS on amazon.com! It's also currently at a sales rank of 433....