The Super Duper "Things to Do" Poems Post

BOBBI KATZ

The Inspiration for My "Things to Do" Poems

Last week, poet Heidi Mordhorst left a couple of questions for me in the comments section of one of my Poetry Friday posts.

Her questions:
- Where can I see more of your Things to Do poems?
- How did you get started with that?

And Looking for the Write Words left the following comment: You know how much I love your poems so my contribution is modeled after many of your Things to Do poems.

I thought it might be a good time to explain how I got started on writing “things to do” poems.

The process began in 1995...I think. I was trying to come up with new ideas for writing poems with my second grade students. I was looking through Paul Janeczko’s book Poetry from A to Z: A Guide for Young Writers when I read a list poem by Bobbi Katz titled "Things to Do If You Are the Rain.” That jogged my memory. I went to my bookcase and pulled out Upside Down and Inside Out: Poems for All Your Pockets, a collection of poems written by Bobbi. In the middle of the book, I found six "things to do" poems—

• Things to Do If You Are a Subway
• Things to Do If You Are a Flower
• Things to Do If You Are the Snow
• Things to Do If You Are a Pizza
• Things to Do If You Are a Cold
• Things to Do If You Are a Star
  

Bobbi's “subway” poem begins like this…

Pretend you are a dragon.
Live in underground caves.
Roar about underneath the city.

The “snow” poems ends like this…

Perch on the branches of all the trees—
Sparkle when the sun shines—
Quiet the city.
Close the schools.

I really liked the idea of writing list poems using this type of format. I went into school one day shortly thereafter and wrote some collaborative poems with my students.

Here is one of the collaborative class poems I wrote with my students a couple of years later. (Sorry I can’t find the collaborative class poems I wrote with my students in 1995 at the moment.)


Things to Do If You Are a Witch

Wake up at midnight.
Fly around the moon
on your magic broom.
Zoom around a haunted house.
Swoop out of the dark sky
and scare children.
Have a huge purple wart
on the tip of your long, pointy nose
and skin as green as grass.
Wear a tall black hat
pointed as a thumbtack.
Make yucky snake skin potions
in your kettle.
Cast nasty spells on princes
and turn them into toads.
Eat vulture leg stew, bat wings,
and frog eyes for lunch.
Throw bat noses into the air
and catch them in your mouth.
Go to sleep in a graveyard
before the sun comes up.

My students enjoyed writing “things to do” poems together. Later, they attempted writing some on their own. Some students would even write them from time to time when given a poetry writing assignment.

NOTE: You’ll find some “things to do” poems my students wrote about animals during the 1995-1996 school year here.


And here are three of the “things to do” poems about space that my students wrote in 1998:

Things to Do If You Are the Sun
by Teddy B.

Explode your fiery volcanoes.
Reach your flaming arches
millions of miles into space.
Show off your sunspots.
Heat up your solar system.
Shine on the planets for
billions of years.
let your light give life to Earth.
Spin all the planets around you.
Don’t let the planets
get lost in space.


MOON
by Joey G.

Spin around the Earth.
Come out in the evening.
Put on your silver dress
and dance in the night sky.
Shimmer like a pearl.


What to Do If You Are the Sun
by Lila M.

Shine on the planets
and their moons.
Give Earth dawn and dusk.
Stretch out your arms of light
and wake people up in the morning.
Hug Earth with your warmth
and help living things grow.
Show off your glorious crown
during a solar eclipse.

I loved the “things to do” poems my students wrote. Their poems inspired me, in 1998, to start writing my own “things to do” poems. I began listing subjects for the poems in my writing journal. Then I started writing rough drafts of the poems in the journal.

Here are two "things to do" poems in that journal that remain in their “rough draft” stage:

Things to Do if You Are a Frog

Be beetle small.
Don’t be green.
Be ruby red, topaz yelloe, or amethyst.
Sit inside a rainforest flower
Like a little jewel
Drinking dewdrops.


Things to Do If You Are A Fish

Be sleek.
Flash your silver scales.
Slip through the water like a whisper.
Play hide and seek in the seaweed.
Watch your breath rise in spheres
to the surface of the sea.

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Here are links to some of my original “things to do” poems that I’ve posted at Wild Rose Reader:

Things to Do If You Are a Mole

Things to Do If You Are a Castle

Things to Do If You Are a Mountain

Things to Do If You Are a Lawnmower

Things to Do If You Are Grass

Things to Do If You Are the Moon

Things to Do If You Are a Bell

Things to Do If You Are a Pencil & Things to Do if You Want to Be a Snowflake

Things to Do If You Are the Ocean

Things to Do if You Are an Orb Spider

Things to Do if You Are a Cow

THANK YOU, BOBBI KATZ FOR GIVING ME INSPIRATION!!!!!

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At Blue Rose Girls, I have some poems and links for Banned Books Week.

Karen, at The Blog With the Shockingly Clever Title, is doing the Poetry Friday Roundup today.

Things to Do If You Are a Mole: An Original List Poem

Here is one of my favorite list poems from my original “Things to Do” poetry collection. It is another one of the poems I had to cut from my new “Things to Do” manuscript. That’s how it goes sometimes—you have to eliminate some of the poems you love in order to create a more cohesive and unified collection.


Things to Do If You Are a Mole


Make your home

in the damp darkness

underground

unknowing of snow

and stars

and summer breezes.

Live among roots

and rocks

and sleeping cicadas.

Excavate tunnels

in the moist brown earth.

Listen for the soft music

of seeds sprouting,

worms wiggling,

rain pattering on your grassy roof.

Spend your days in a world

of unending night.

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The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Wild Rose Reader this week! Click here to leave the URL of your poetry post at my Poetry Friday Roundup post.

Things to Do If You Are a Castle: An Original List Poem

Well, I’m nearly finished with my Things to Do poetry collection. At the moment, the collection includes twenty-seven poems. I’m thinking of adding one or two more. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve changed the manuscript a lot in recent months. I’ve eliminated several of the original poems and added fourteen new ones. The Things to Do collection now takes a young child through a school day from dawn to bedtime. I believe it is a more cohesive collection of poems now. I’m hoping to submit it to a publisher by summer’s end.

I want to acknowledge three individuals for giving me invaluable advice on this writing project:

• Grace Lin helped me to look at my Things to Do collection with new eyes. Grace gave me the suggestion for changing the focus of the manuscript. That suggestion renewed my energy for working on the poetry project again. It inspired me to write lots of new poems.
• Janet Wong read through my manuscript and carefully critiqued it. She suggested eliminating particular poems and gave me topic suggestions for new poems. Janet’s suggestions helped me to provide better “poetry” transitions throughout the collection.
• Brad Bennett sat with me as we went through each poem with a fine-tooth comb a few days ago. I can always count on Brad to help me with the tiniest details. (Brad is a teacher and published poet. You can read three of Brad’s list poems here.)
  

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Here is one of the “things to do” poems that is no longer included in the collection. I was thinking of my daughter and her new husband when I selected the following poem. They recently returned from their honeymoon in Ireland--where they visited lots of castles.

THINGS TO DO IF YOU ARE A CASTLE

Stand on a stony cliff
overlooking the sea.
Wear a thick wall of armor.
Sprout tall turrets.
Be a haven.
Drop your drawbridge
for damsels in distress.
Shelter proud steeds,
brave knights who do good deeds.
Be a fortress, a bulwark.
Grow strong and stout.
Keep the evil invaders out.

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At Blue Rose Girls, I have a sonnet by Mary Meriam titled The Romance of Middle Age.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Live. Love. Explore!

Things to Do If You Are a Mountain: An Original List Poem

As some of you may have noticed I’ve been blogging “light” in recent months. I haven’t posted a book review in a long time. Now that my mother is settled in her new residence and my daughter’s wedding is in the past—maybe my life will return to normal once again. I’m hoping I’ll get myself back into my regular blogging groove soon.

I always try to post on Poetry Fridays. For this week, I selected another one of my “things to do” list poems that I’ve scrubbed from my Things to Do collection.


THINGS TO DO IF YOU ARE A MOUNTAIN

Wear a snow-white cap
and a thick coat of evergreens.
Scratch your stony back with glaciers.

Tower over the tops of other mountains.
Let the sun sparkle on your summit.
Hide drowsing bears
in your deep brown pockets.
At night
poke your head above the clouds
and peek at the stars.

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The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Language, Literacy, Love.

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You may want to view the video I posted at my Political Verses blog today--Sarah Palin's Geography Song: Fifty Nifty States. It's pretty funny!

Things to Do If You Are a Lawnmower: An Original Poem

Two weeks ago, the subject of my Poetry Friday post was grass. I posted a poem by Valerie Worth, an original acrostic, and one of my list poems entitled Things to Do If You Are Grass. Today, I have another list poem about a piece of yard equipment whose roar is ubiquitous during the summertime.


THINGS TO DO IF YOU ARE A LAWNMOWER

Rev your engine.
Roar across the lawn.
Wake up neighbors
At the break of dawn.
Chew up the green grass,
Spit it out.
Rage and rumble and growl and shout.
Stop your squawking
When your work is done.
Leave the cut grass lying in the sun.
Cool down your motor,
Roll to the shed.
Rest your weary wheels—
It’s time for bed.

At Blue Rose Girls, I have a poem by Kim Addonzio entitled "What Do Women Want?"

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at The Art of Irreverence.

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I’ll be heading off for Washington DC tomorrow. I’ll be attending the Newbery/Caldecott Banquet at ALA. Grace Lin got tickets for the Blue Rose Girls. I’ll be sitting with them and with my poetry adviser Janet Wong. We BRG will probably be wearing blue roses—just as we did at Grace’s wedding.

My Husband & I at Grace Lin's Wedding
(See the blue rose?)

If you'd like to see what I'll be wearing to the Newbery/Caldecott Banquet, check out my post Three Dresses and a Wedding.

POETRY FRIDAY: The Subject Is Grass

Last year, my husband bought one of those old-fashioned push mowers. Recently, I decided to take over the chore of mowing our lawn. I had never liked the gas-powered mower we had years ago—and I had trouble with our electric mower’s cord always getting in my way. But I love cutting the grass with the push mower. It’s great exercise for me--and much less boring than pumping on my exercycle while lifting weights. I do the front lawn one day—and the back yard the next day. I'm a bit obsessive about the way I cut and trim the grass...but our lawn has never
looked better!

With grass on my mind, I give you two original poems—a “things to do” list poem and an acrostic—as well as a favorite poem on the subject by the great Valerie Worth.


THINGS TO DO IF YOU ARE GRASS

Live on a hillside meadow.
Grow tall
and golden as summer sun.
Hide fluffy field mice
and a symphony of crickets.
Welcome wildflowers,
honeybees, and butterflies.
Drink the fallen rain.
Bend and sway
to the rhythm
of the wind
and dance.


Green carpets the ground,
Reaches over the hills, blankets the broad valley,
And across the wide prairie, stalks of tall golden grain
Sway in the wind
Singing the song of the plain.



grass
by Valerie Worth

Grass on the lawn
Says nothing:
Clipped, empty,
Quiet.

Grass in the fields
Whistles, slides,
casts up a foam
Of seeds,

Tangles itself
With leaves: hides
Whole rustling schools
Of mice.

Book Recommendation
All the Small Poems and Fourteen More
Written by Valerie Worth
Illustrated by Natalie Babbitt

This wonderful poetry classic is a compilation of four of Worth’s earlier collections—Small Poems, More Small Poems, Still More Small Poems, and Small Poems Again—and it includes fourteen additional poems. Every elementary teacher should have a copy of this paperback book in her classroom collection.

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At Blue Rose Girls: Sticking with the "grass" theme, I have a poem by Robert Wrigley entitled Mowing--which is really about more than cutting a lawn.

Kelly Polark is doing the Poetry Friday Roundup this week.

Things to Do If You Are the Moon: An Original List Poem

I’ve written a collection of poems titled Things to Do. Most of the poems in the collection are list poems. I’ve posted a few of them—including Things to Do if You Want to Be a Snowflake, Things to Do If You Are a Bell, and Things to Do If You Are a Pencil—at Wild Rose Reader. I’ve submitted the collection to just one publisher (in 2006)—who rejected it. In her rejection letter, the editor wrote the following:

There are some lovely poems here—I especially like “Things to Do If You Are a Mole.” But the “things to do” theme struck me as a bit loose. I felt I had to make big leaps moving from King Kong to nature to a pencil, and found a little puzzled by the whole.

Yes, the “things to do” poems ARE about various and sundry things: a bus, a snail, an acorn, the grass, a mountain, the rain, the ocean, a castle, a grandfather clock, scissors—and King Kong. After I received the rejection letter, I tried to think of ways to keep all the poems that I’d already written and still make Things to Do seem like a more cohesive collection. That’s when I wondered if I should organize the poems into different categories—and include three or four poems in each category.

Since I had two poems about objects in space—Things to Do If You Are the Sun and Things to Do If You Are a Star—I thought it might be a good idea to include a poem about the moon…so I wrote Things to Do If You Are the Moon. But I didn’t like it! It was too prosaic. No matter how much I fiddled with it—I didn’t hear any music. So I put the poem aside…for a long time.

Then, on Wednesday, while I was taking a shower—the beginning of a “things to do” moon poem popped into my head. I worked on the poem on Wednesday and Thursday. It still needs some work—but I think it’s much better than my first moon poem. Here is my second attempt:


THINGS TO DO IF YOU ARE THE MOON

Live in the sky.
Be bold…
OR
be shy.
Wax and wane
in your starry terrain.
Be a circle of light,
just a sliver of white,
or hide in the shadows
and vanish from sight.
Look like a pearl
when you’re brim-full
and bright.
Hang in the darkness
and dazzle the night.

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Jules has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Seven Impossible Things.

A List Poem & A Concrete Poem

Last week, in my “great list poem” post, I extended an invitation to blog readers to write and submit their own list poems to Wild Rose Reader.

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater submitted Word Blanket—a lovely poem that I think poets and other writers will truly appreciate. Amy is a published poet and writes for her own blog, Poem Farm. Two of Amy's poems are included in Lee Bennett Hopkins’s exceptional new anthology Sharing the Seasons, which was beautifully illustrated by David Diaz.

Word Blanket

by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

I cover myself with a blanket of words.

Miracle
Lullaby
Storm

I quilted each consonant into this cloth.
Each vowel is keeping me warm.

Butterfly
Evergreen
Whispering
Hope

Words to remember
Read
Write.

I’m pulling my word blanket up to my chin.
I’m sleeping with words.

Good night.

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Martha Calderaro wrote me to me to tell me that she had attempted to write a list poem BUT ended up with a concrete poem instead. She based her poem on pond adventures her daughter and her friends had over the weekend. Martha said: “It started as a list poem, then just went in another direction. So it goes sometimes.”

Here’s a link to Martha’s “tadpoling” post: http://marthacalderaro.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/tadpoling/

The Great List Poem Post & An Invitation

Sometimes the beginning lines of a poem just pop into my head. There’s no advanced warning. I haven’t prepared the way for them. They just come—and I’m always happy to welcome them.

The first few lines of the following list poem about April arrived without an invitation. I hadn’t thought: I’ll sit down now and write a list poem about April. Let’s see—I’ll speak to my muse and get her advice. No, I just listened to the words whispering in my mind and let the poem take me where it wanted to go.

April: A List Poem

April is showers
and blossoming flowers…
their fragrant perfume.
It’s fruit trees in bloom.
It’s cold days adjourning
and robins returning
and swift rivers running…
my dog outside sunning.

April is warmer,
a springtime performer...
delivers bright days
when forsythia blaze
and I hear the sun say:
“You can go out and play—
No wool coat required.”
'Cause winter’s retired.


Here are two more list poems that I posted previously at Wild Rose Reader (I’ve made a couple of small changes in April.) These poems didn't just "pop" into my head. You’ll notice that the spring poem is an also acrostic.

APRIL

Days crackle with sunlight.
Tree buds burst tight jackets,
Stretch awake.
Jaunty daffodils announce
Spring’s return.
Birds string themselves
Like beads along branches.
Windows yawn open
And houses breathe deep
Warm green air.


Soft, scented breezes, kite-catching winds, the
Pitter patter of warm rain on the
Roof, daffodils and daisies and lilacs
In bloom, apple trees wearing snow-white crowns.
Now the sun lingers at the edge of day and
Green…lovely green…has come home to stay.


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Last Sunday, I met with my good friend Brad. Brad also writes and has a passion for poetry. He is a master of haiku. He also loves list poems. I asked if he’d be willing to share some of his original list poems with us. He was most accommodating.

Here are three list poems written by Brad Bennett.
(Each Animal Knew One Word, Vocations, and Spelling List © Brad Bennett. All rights reserved.)

Each Animal Knew One Word

mouse: nibble
rat: gnaw
crow: quibble
bear: thaw

seal: bask
buffalo: wallow
chameleon: mask
python: swallow

eagle: soar
butterfly: flit
squirrel: store
camel: spit


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Vocations

The job of the sky?
To blanket the hills.
The job of the hills?
To cushion the sun.
The job of the sun?
To wake up the trees.
The job of the trees?
To embrace the lake.
The job of the lake?
To mirror the sky.


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Spelling List

1. I’ve
2. always
3. loved
4. learning
5. new
6. words
7. especially
8. when
9. they
10. organize
11. themselves
12. into
13. an
14. unexpected
15. poem

About Brad Bennett: Brad is a third grade teacher at the Thoreau School in Concord, Massachusetts. He is also a published poet. We met in 2001 at the First Annual Summer Poetry Institute—an institute for teachers sponsored by the Favorite Poem Project and the School of Education at Boston University. Brad and I have remained friends since that summer. We get together several times a year to talk about poetry, religion, teaching, and life.

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If you’d like to read more list poems, I recommend Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems. It was edited by Georgia Heard. The book contains thirty-two poems—many written by some of America’s most highly regarded children’s poets, including Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Marilyn Singer, Kristine O’Connell George, Naomi Shihab Nye, J. Patrick Lewis, Jane Yolen, Bobbi Katz, and Patricia Hubbell.
In the book’s introduction, Georgia Heard explains that “Falling Down the Page sketches the cycle of a school year from summer’s end in Eileen Spinelli’s “Good-byes” to a no school snow day in "Winter’s Presents" by Patricia Hubbell. The poems also trace the arc of an entire school day from “Ways to Greet A Friend” by Avis Harley to end-of-the-day rituals in “Things to Do Today” by Liz Rozenberg.

Here's an excerpt from Eileen Spinelli's Good-byes, the first list poem in the anthology:

It's really hard
to say good-bye
to twinkling beach,
and golden sky,
to castles rising
from the sand,
to Annie's caramel
popcorn stand.

You can read the rest of Eileen’s poem here: http://www.amazon.com/reader/1596432209?_encoding=UTF8&ref_=sib_dp_ptu#reader_1596432209

The poems in this collection take on a variety of forms and subjects. Avis Harley writes about how to say hello in different languages in Ways to Greet A Friend. Her poem begins…

Hola is the Spanish Hello,
Italians go for Buon giorno

Konichiwa is Japanese,
Bon dia is the Portuguese,

It ends…

Shalom would be the Hebrew tongue….
So many ways Hello is sung!

Jane Yolen’s poem In My Desk is told in the voice of a child who is upset because recess has been canceled so that students can clean out their desks. The child thinks she has only junk in her desk—and says: “So let them clean it/I don’t care.” The child then lists the pieces of junk--and then has second thoughts about them:

No—wait—
each piece
can tell a tale.
It’s not just
junk
that’s old and stale.
I’ll do that
cleaning out,
you see
each piece of junk’s
my history.

In Clay Play, Kristine O’Connell George talks about some of the different things one can do to and with clay. For example, one can…

Pound it, round it,
stretch it, roll it,
braid it, bowl it,
mold it, fold it.

Press it flat
and very thin
for daisy petals—
fishes’ fins…

In her “recipe” poem, Georgia Heard lists the ingredients one requires for writing an autumn poem. Avis Harley lists the different places one can read books in her rhyming poem Booktime. In J. Patrick Lewis’s poem What is Earth?, different animals are asked the same question—but respond with different answers:

What is earth, whale?
A sea where I sing.
What is earth, robin?
A thing I call Spring.
What is earth, python?
A space to squeeze in.
What is earth, penguin?
A place to freeze in…

The book’s final poem, Things to Do Today by Liz Rosenberg, ends like this:

Brush teeth, spit. Say good-night
To that girl in the mirror.
Get feet back into bed.
Check for moonlight. Starlight. Weather.
Read before sleep.
Remember a good thing that happened.
Forget a not-so-good one.
Tomorrow you get to do it all again.
Lucky you! Don’t watch the clock. Just
Dream.

And finally, here’s the poem that I contributed to Falling Down the Page:

THINGS TO DO IF YOU ARE A PENCIL

Be sharp.
Wear a slick yellow suit
and a pink top hat.
Tap your toes on the tabletop,
listen for the right rhythm,
then dance a poem
across the page.


An Invitation
Are you feeling inspired to write a list poem? I hope so. If you do write one, leave it in the comments or email it to me and I’ll post it next week.

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Addendum
More List Poems from Wild Rose Reader and Other Kidlit Bloggers

From Cloudscome at A Wrung Sponge: What I Would Photograph

From Tiel Aisha Ansari at Knocking from Inside: Things I’m Grateful For

From Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect: How I Write

From Wild Rose Reader: Things to Do: List Poems

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The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Book Aunt this week.

Things to Do If You Are a Bell...and More Poetry for Christmas

Here’s a poem from one of my unpublished poetry collections titled Things to Do—a manuscript that has received two rejections to date. I thought Things to Do If You Are a Bell would be an appropriate poem for posting on this Poetry Friday a week before Christmas.


Things to Do If You Are a Bell

Ride on a reindeer’s harness.
Tinkle in the icy air.
Jingle across milk-white snow.
Sing with a silver tongue.

Jack & Rudy

Season’s Greetings from Jack & Rudy
(Jack is my daughter’s yellow lab and Rudy is the cat she got last Christmas.)

Jack loves Christmas. Woof! Woof! Woof!
Rudy loves it too. Mew! Mew! Mew!
Can’t wait to get their presents—
Some biscuits and a bone,
Some catnip and a ball of yarn,
Some meat-scented cologne.
Jack and Rudy love their tree—
Its ornaments and lights,
The gold star at its tippy-top
Glistening and bright.

Woof! Woof! Woof!
Mew! Mew! Mew!!
They're sending season's greetings
To every one of you.
I will now interpret
What they REALLY want to say:

Have a tailwagging purrfect
Merry Christmas Day!

Click on the following links to read reviews of books of Christmas poetry and Christmas stories in verse from Wild Rose Reader and Blue Rose Girls:

Poetry Book Reviews: Under the Kissletoe & Hanukkah Haiku
Poetry for Christmas (A review of Aileen Fisher’s book Do Rabbits Have Christmas?
Christmas Books in Verse
More Poetry for Christmas
POETRY FRIDAY: Christmas Stories in Verse

At Political Verses this week--Stand for Christmas: A Song Parody & a Poem.

Susan Taylor Brown is doing the Poetry Friday Roundup this week.

Things to Do: List Poems

Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems
Edited by Georgia Heard
Roaring Brook Press, 2009

Review from School Library Journal
Gr 2-5
The surprises begin with the cover of this long, narrow book that opens from the top, sporting a title tumbling down with assorted objects-a feather, a squirrel, a pencil, a sock. Inside is a wide variety of list or catalogue poems, which Heard describes in her introduction as "the oldest and most accessible of poetic forms." Many focus on the ordinary: Marilyn Singer's selection opens, "I like to hold in my hand/a baseball,/a shell,/a fistful of sand,/a feather,/a letter,/a red rubber band." Others, like Elaine Magliaro's "Things to Do If You're a Pencil" and Bobbi Katz's "Things to Do If You Are the Sun," encourage readers to think about familiar items in new ways, and kids will enjoy writing their own "Things to do..." poems. Still others urge youngsters to think more abstractly: Lee Bennett Hopkins's entry asks, "Why poetry?/Why?/Why sunsets?/Why trees?/Why birds?/Why seas?/Why you?/Why me?" David Harrison's humorous "Chorus of Four Frogs" will be hilarious to perform. It's a given that alert teachers will use this volume to encourage the enjoyment and writing of poetry. A winner.-Lee Bock, Glenbrook Elementary School, Pulaski, WI

I quote from this SLJ review of Falling Down the Page: …and kids will enjoy writing their own "Things to do..." poems.

I can vouch for the statement above written by Lee Bock, the book’s reviewer. My elementary students wrote a lot of poetry in my classroom. Many of them liked the format of the “Things to do…” poems. To prove my point—I have some of my former students’ poems for you as examples.

Writing “Things to Do” poems made for an excellent language arts exercise. I had my students focus on the use of strong verbs in the poems they wrote about animals that they had done research on and written reports about. When my students finished the rough drafts of their poems, I’d discuss the poems with each child individually. I’d often ask if they could find a “better” verb to use in place of one that was weak or “generic.” I’d tell them to picture their animals in action—and to try to capture those pictures using the “action” words best suited to their animals. We’d then discuss different words that could be used in place of the ones they had written in their poems. In this way, I was often able to elicit from my students words that were in their vocabulary—but not on the tips of their tongues…or pencils, if you will.

I would often start the whole process of writing this type of list poem with a collaborative class poem to model the process. Here’s a collaborative class poem I wrote with my second graders at the Bell School in Marblehead, Massachusetts, in October of 1997:

Things to Do If You Are a Witch

Wake up at midnight.

Fly around the moon

on your magic broom.

Zoom around a haunted house.

Swoop out of the dark sky

and scare children.

Have a huge purple wart

on the tip of your long, pointy nose

and skin as green as grass.

Wear a tall black hat

pointed as a thumbtack.

Make yucky snake skin potions

in your kettle.

Cast nasty spells on princes

and turn them into toads.

Eat vulture leg stew, bat wings,

and frog eyes for lunch.

Throw bat noses into the air

and catch them in your mouth.

Go to sleep in a graveyard

before the sun comes up.



Things to Do…Animal Poems
1996

Things to Do If You Are a Butterfly
By Phoebe G.

Be beautiful.
Flutter in the sky
And show off your rainbow scales.
Find a yellow rose
And settle on a soft petal.
Put your little straw tongue
Into the flower
And sip up the sweet drops of nectar.
Be beautiful.


Things to Do If You Are a Vampire Bat
By Zack H.

Lap up the blood
of sleeping horses.
Slip through small spaces
into dark attics.
Visit Dracula at midnight.
Hang upside down
in caves and castles.
Swoop down
out of a black sky
and terrorize people.


Things to Do If You Are a Kitten
By Sam L.

Pounce on people’s feet.
Tear couches apart with your sharp claws.
Fight with other kittens.
Climb up dining room curtains.
Fiddle with a piece of string.
Hide under blankets.
Curl up and sleep on a bed.


Things to Do If You Are a Rattlesnake
By Steven M.

Slither through the grass
Like an S.
Stick out your long forked tongue.
Rattle your tail at a rat.
Show your knife-sharp fangs.
Bite your prey.
Swallow it whole.
Slip under a rock.
Coil yourself up and sleep.


Things to Do If You Are a Kitten
By Leo S.

Tear up couches.
Pounce on a furry mouse.
Rocket out an open window
and climb up a tree.
Watch flitting butterflies.
Shoot up and catch one.
Sharpen your claws on tree bark.
Watch a snake slide across the yard
and under a shed.
Go play with a catnip mouse.


Things to Do If You Are a Shark
By Jack S.

Glide across the water like a whale.
Bite holes in fishing boats
And sink them.
Gobble up sting rays.
Sneak up on people
And scare them out of their wits.


1997

Things to Do If You Are a Penguin
By Michael B.

Dive deep down
into the icy cold water.

Speed through the freezing sea
like a bullet.

Dart away from enemies.

Catch slippery silver fish
for your chick.

Waddle around
with your penguin friends
on the sparkling snow.


Things to Do If You Are a Dolphin
Billy E.

Dive for whiskery catfish
and eat them.

Fly out of the water
like a bullet.

Do cool jumps.

Attack BIG sharks
with your friends.

Jet through the warm seas.

Look like a shiny blue cloud
floating in the ocean.


Things to Do If You Are a Manatee
By Adam K.

Swim along the bottom of the sea.
Nibble yummy water weeds.
Nuzzle a friend.
Play in your warm water world.
Lie on your back,
Fold up your flippers,
Close your eyes,
And go off into dreamland.


Things to Do If You Are a Koala
By Jason K.

Climb to the top
of the world.
Sleep all day
high up in the trees.
At night get drunk
on eucalyptus leaves.
Glide from tree to tree.
Give your joey a ride
in your warm pouch.
Look like a fluffy teddy bear.


Things to Do If You Are a Bald Eagle
By Nick P.

Soar through the air like a rocket.
Feel the wind on your wings.
Swoop down to the river.
Catch silvery fish with your sharp talons.
Teach your children to fly and hunt.
Be the symbol of the United States.

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At Political Verses, I have a parody of Shakespeare’s “Double double toil and trouble” bit from Macbeth, Act IV, Scene 1. It’s a potent political pottage…a Macbethian mélange…Pelosi’s pot-au-pooh- poohers.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Carol’s Corner this week.

Things to Do If You Are a Pencil: A Original List Poem

A long-awaited package arrived at my house a week ago yesterday. It was a box of poetry books. Actually, it was a box of twenty-five copies of one title: Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems—an anthology edited by Georgia Heard and published by Roaring Brook Press.

One might wonder why I ordered so many copies of Falling Down the Page. Well, one of MY poems—Things to Do If You Are a Pencil— is included in the book. Things to Do If You Are a Pencil is my second poem to be published in a children’s book. I’m planning to give away copies of Falling Down the Page to members of my family, the three young girls who live across the street, the elementary school where I once worked as a teacher and librarian—and as a prize during National Poetry Month from Wild Rose Reader.

I’m ecstatic that Georgia Heard selected one of my poems for inclusion in this wonderful anthology—and elated to see MY name listed on the back cover along with the names of some of my favorite poets: J. Patrick Lewis, Naomi Shihab Nye, Jane Yolen, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Marilyn Singer, Patricia Hubbell, Kristine O’Connell George, and Bobbi Katz.

Here's an excerpt from the first poem in the anthology--Eileen Spinelli's Good-byes:

It's really hard

to say good-bye

to twinkling beach,

and golden sky,

to castles rising

from the sand,

to Annie's caramel

popcorn stand.

Here’s a link to a page at Amazon.com that has a link to Eileen Spinelli’s Good-Byes. (Just click on the word Excerpt.)

And here’s my poem:

Things to Do If You Are a Pencil

Be sharp.

Wear a slick yellow suit

and a pink top hat.

Tap your toes on the tabletop,

listen for the right rhythm,

then dance a poem

across the page.

FYI: I have written an entire collection of “things to do” poems. It’s still unpublished—like the rest of my poetry collections. Previously, I posted one of the poems from Things to Do at Wild Rose Reader. Here it is again:

Things to Do If You Want to be a Snowflake
(For Robert Mercer)

Fashion yourself:

a bit of lace,

crystalline,

spun in space

of silken ice,

silvery,

fine—

YOU

C R E A T E

your

own

design.


I want to express my heartfelt thanks to my friend Janet Wong. She is the person who put me in touch with Georgia Heard. Janet suggested that I send Georgia some list poems for an anthology she was compiling. Janet, an award-winning children’s poet, has given me lots of encouragement and advice. She has been a wonderful supporter of my poetry writing. Thank you, Janet! It means so much to have someone like you rooting for me.

********************

At Political Verses, I have another original poem entitled Rush and the Pussy-Cat. It’s a Limbaughyme that’s a parody of Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussy-Cat.

At Blue Rose Girls, I have a post about Magnetic Poetry and a poem I composed using one of the kits at the magnetic Poetry site. (Thanks to Cloudscome for her Magnetic Poetry post last Friday.)

Julie Larios has the Poetry Friday Roundup at The Drift Record.

Poetry Friday: List Poems

Tricia’s challenged us to write list poems for her Poetry Stretch this week at the Miss Rumphius Effect. I went looking through all the original poems I’ve posted at Wild Reader to date to see if I could find some list poems to post for Poetry Friday.

I found ten poems. I wrote the first four poems below specifically as list poems. Among the other poems posted here are a recipe poem, a mask poem, and an acrostic.


AUTUMN
by Elaine Magliaro


Crickets sighing
Birds goodbying
Pumpkins growing plump and round


Apple picking
Football kicking
Chestnuts thudding on the ground


Bright leaves falling
Wild geese calling
Honeybees huddling in their hive


Trick-or-treating
Turkey eating
Winter’s waiting to arrive


Who’s on Board the Straight Squawk Express? or Joe the Plumber Et Al
by Elaine the retired teacher

Joe the plumber,
Mack the Knife,
Hal the husband,
Val the wife,
Don the dentist,
Dick the doc,
Phil the farmer,
Hank the hawk,
Gail the grocer,
Ken the catcher,
Pat the daft
Police dispatcher,
Val the vet and
Babs the baker,
Chad the chocolate
Candy maker,
Al the actor,
Sal the singer,
Greg the guy
Who sniffs his finger,
Bud the butcher,
Mike the mayor,
Steve the hunky
Land surveyor,
Peg the pilot,
Bill the banker,
Nell the nightly
News-hour anchor,
Vic who drives
The old age van,
Rob the Roto-Rooter man,
Will the waiter,
Gil the gilder,
Bo the brawny
Body builder
Ted the teacher,
Don the drummer,
George and Sarah--
Dumb and dumber--
Driving over
Hill and dale
Busy on
The campaign trail.


BACKPACK
by Elaine Magliaro


What’s in my backpack?
Hmm…let’s see:
a tunafish sandwich,
raspberry tea,
an apple for the teacher…
and one for me,
a pair of scissors,
a stick of glue,
washable crayons…
and markers, too—
three sharp pencils
my Winnie Pooh
a bright red folder,
a paper pad,
a calculator to help me add…
and
a little love note from my dad!


FULL OF…
by Elaine Magliaro


Shoes are full of feet.
Candy’s full of sweet.
A pig is full of slops.
A bunny’s full of hops.
A farm is full of cows,
Chickens, pigs, and plows.
April’s full of showers
That bring us springtime flowers.
Winter’s full of snow
And blizzard winds that blow.
A forest’s full of trees…
Leaves swishing in the breeze.
The sky is full of blue…
And all the oceans, too.
The dawn is full of light
And dark fills up the night.
Bees are full of buzz
And black and yellow fuzz.
A spider’s full of silk.
A cow? Chock full of milk.
Rain is full of drops.
It drips and plips and plops.
Dreams fill up your head
At night when you’re in bed.
“And you?” you ask of me.
WHY…I’m full of poetry.


Earthworms is a mask poem. The first stanza is a list of physical characteristics/parts that earthworms lack/do not have.

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!



I think one could consider How to Make a Morning to be both a list poem and a recipe poem. What do you think?

How to Make a Morning
by Elaine Magliaro


Melt a galaxy of stars in a large blue bowl.
Knead the golden sun and let it rise in the East.
Spread the sky with a layer of lemony light.
Blend together until brimming with brightness.
Fold in dewdrops.Sprinkle with songbirds.
Garnish with a chorus of cock-a-doodle-doos.
Set out on a platter at dawnand enjoy.


How to Bring Spring is what I call a “how to” poem. A “how to” poem is a lot like a recipe poem. To me, this poem could also be considered a list poem.

How to Bring Spring
by Elaine Magliaro


Wash away clouds of gray.
Paint the sky the color of shadows on snow,
Lightly brush it with strokes of wispy white.
Polish the sun until it shines
like a newly-minted coin.
Summon a bunch of bobbing robins.
Wrap forsythia bushes
in bright yellow boas.
Daub garden beds
with pink and purple polka dots.
Stitch silky apple blossomsto bare brown branches.
Tell tulips and daffodils to muster and stand at attention.
Wake spring peepers from their winter sleep.
Let daylight linger before the shadow of night arrives.


You can read more about “recipe” and “how to” poems by clicking on the two links below:

• Recipe & How to Make... Poems, Part I
• Recipe & How to Make... Poems, Part II

Do you think the next two poems, April and Bed in Summer, could be classified as list poems?

APRIL

by Elaine Magliaro

Days crackle with sunlight.

Tree buds burst tight jackets,

Stretch awake.

Jaunty daffodils announce

The return of spring.

Birds string themselves

Like beads along branches

Windows yawn open

And houses breathe deep

The warm green air.

Bed in Summer

by Elaine Magliaro

Dark drifts in when I'm in bed.

Dreams whisper to my sleepy head.

Ice cubes clink into a glass.

Our sprinkler whirs and wets the grass.

Shouts of children still at play

Spark the night...then fade away.

Mosquitoes drone, crickets cheep.

Wrapped in summer sounds I'll sleep.

And finally…how about an acrostic/list poem about the signs of spring?

Soft, scented breezes, kite-catching winds, the
Pitter patter of warm rain on the
Roof, daffodils and daisies and lilacs
In bloom, apple trees wearing snow-white crowns.
Now the sun lingers at the edge of day and
Green…lovely green…has come home to stay.

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At Blue Rose Girls, I have another great poem by Sherman Alexie entitled Defending Walt Whitman.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Brimstone Soup.