I’ve done a number of posts for Wild Rose Reader about mask poems—which I love to write. My elementary school students enjoyed writing them too. My students also enjoyed writing poems of address in which they’d speak to the sun or moon or a planet…to a tree…or to different kinds of animals.
For the last Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month, I’d thought I’d turn to my attention to apostrophe—or poems of address.
For the last Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month, I’d thought I’d turn to my attention to apostrophe—or poems of address.
Following is a poem of address that I wrote a couple of years ago for my unpublished collection entitled Docile Fossil—which contains poems about extinct animals, fossils, the La Brea Tar Pits, and dinosaur dung. In How Come? I’m talking to a woolly mammoth in hopes of finding out how the huge prehistoric mammal became extinct.
How Come?
Woolly mammoth,
Big
Behemoth
Prehistoric pachyderm,
What did you in,
You hairy hulk?
A teeny tiny
Infinitesimal
Microscopic
Deadly germ?
A minuscule bacterium?
Hmmm?
Elephant is still extant…
Hippo, rhino, tiny ant,
Kinkajou and caribou…
Gnat and gnu are living, too.
How come YOU
And mastodon
Are D-E-A-D
Dead and gone?
And here’s a poem of address in which I talk to a honeybee:
Bee,
busying yourself
in a bright pink peony,
save a sip of nectar
for me.
How Come?
Woolly mammoth,
Big
Behemoth
Prehistoric pachyderm,
What did you in,
You hairy hulk?
A teeny tiny
Infinitesimal
Microscopic
Deadly germ?
A minuscule bacterium?
Hmmm?
Elephant is still extant…
Hippo, rhino, tiny ant,
Kinkajou and caribou…
Gnat and gnu are living, too.
How come YOU
And mastodon
Are D-E-A-D
Dead and gone?
And here’s a poem of address in which I talk to a honeybee:
Bee,
busying yourself
in a bright pink peony,
save a sip of nectar
for me.
I originally wrote the following poem, Talking to Giraffe, as a point-of-view/mask poem. I kept tinkering with it—but it didn’t work no matter how much I tweaked it. So, this week, I tried rewriting it as a poem of address. I think the poem's more successful with my speaking to the giraffe rather than my speaking in the voice of the giraffe.
Talking to Giraffe
You are taller than tall.
You’re the tallest of all
The creatures that live on the land.
You can nibble the leaves
From the tip-tops of trees.
Don’t you think being tallest is grand?
Why, your head is so high
That it touches the sky.
You can wink at the birds as they go flying by.
You can you nuzzle the clouds,
Drink the first drops of rain.
You must have a great view from your lofty domain.
Do you like being tall…
The tallest of all
The creatures that live on the land?
With your head at that height
The whole world is in sight!
You MUST think being tallest is grand!
Here’s my Things to Do If You Are a Pencil list poem rewritten as a p
You’re the tallest of all
The creatures that live on the land.
You can nibble the leaves
From the tip-tops of trees.
Don’t you think being tallest is grand?
Why, your head is so high
That it touches the sky.
You can wink at the birds as they go flying by.
You can you nuzzle the clouds,
Drink the first drops of rain.
You must have a great view from your lofty domain.
Do you like being tall…
The tallest of all
The creatures that live on the land?
With your head at that height
The whole world is in sight!
You MUST think being tallest is grand!
Here’s my Things to Do If You Are a Pencil list poem rewritten as a p
16 Comments on Apostrophe: Poems of Address, last added: 5/2/2010
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The poems of address are wonderful and so full of possibilities. Although my current schedule and responsibilities as a reading specialist have greatly limited my time with children that can include writing poetry, I am realizing that there surely must be more ways to share all the fun, inspiring and important possibilities. Thanks for the charming reminder and invitatio
The poems of address are wonderful and so full of possibilities. Although my current schedule and responsibilities as a reading specialist have greatly limited my time with children that can include writing poetry, I am realizing that there surely must be more ways to share all the fun, inspiring and important possibilities. Thanks for the charming reminder and invitation.
The poems of address are wonderful and so full of possibilities. Although my current schedule and responsibilities as a reading specialist have greatly limited my time with children that can include writing poetry, I am realizing that there surely must be more ways to share all the fun, inspiring and important possibilities. Thanks for the charming reminder and invitatio
Ooh...another new form for me. Thank you so much for sharing these great poems, Elaine. I think the one about the giraffe is my favorite.
I love the pencil poem, Elaine! Bright yellow suit -- what a vision. I do a "magic pencil" prompt with kids using Merwin's "The Unwrittten."
Elaine,
Another treasure-trove of resources! It's neat to see your pencil poem take on different lives; your posts help us with our teaching and our writing, so thank you for the month!
A.
Joan,
I taught second grade for a long time. One year I did a teacher research study in my classroom. Poetry was the focus. I sent home questtionnaires for both students and parents to respond to in May. One thing I found out was that a few of my boys who were struggling readers liked reading poetry better than other kinds of literature. They enjoyed the "I Can Read" series of poetry books compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins.
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Bridget,
I'm glad you like the giraffe poem. I struggled with it for a loooooong time.
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Author Amok,
I have a couple of Merwin's poetry books. I'll have to see if one of them has that poem you mentioned in it.
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Amy,
I'm so happy to think that my poetry posts can be of help to teachers. I loved writing poetry with my elementary students. They wrote some wonderful poems of address over the years.
Loved reading all your posts this month and learning about poetry forms new to me. Can't wait to try using some of your ideas with my kids as they grow older.
Hi Elaine! By coincidence, I featured Hey, You at www.randomnoodling.com today! Is there something in the air?
Brimful Curiosities,
I'm glad you enjoyed reading my Poetry Month posts. One thing I do miss in retirement is sharing and writing poetry with kids.
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Kurious Kitty,
You know what they say: Great minds think alike!
I've written up so many posts on mask poems that I thought it was about time I talked about apostrophe/poems of address on my blog. My students really enjoyed writing them too.
Thank you for sharing these poems. I have learned much by seeing your pencil poem in a variety of forms. I need to apply this strategy to some of my own poems. They may actually be better in another form! At the very least it will force me to rethink them as I revise.
Thanks too for all you shared this month.
Elaine,
I like how you rewrote the pencil poem, too.
Thanks for sharing it.
Laura
all things poetry
Your poetry research sounds fascinating! What unexpected results! I'm thinking we need to apply what you learned at my school with our kiddos.
it's also good to engage kids in reading books..it enhances the imagination...it's also better than just to watch movies free online and limit one's creativity..
You amaze me with all your different collections!
Love the giraffe poem, and as others have said, it's interesting to see your poems in different forms. Thanks for all you've shared during NPM!
Elaine,
I just came across you blog and love your poem to the woolly mammoth, and love that you've written poems about extinct animals and fossils. I, too, love extinct animals (and poetry!). I'm actually heading to Chicago in a couple of weeks to see Lyuba, the baby woolly mammoth at the Field Museum.
Thanks for sharing all the great poems for NPM.
~Toby