April Rain Song

April Rain Song
by Langston Hughes

Let the rain kiss you
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops
Let the rain sing you a lullaby
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk
The rain makes running pools in the gutter
The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night
And I love the rain.



http://allpoetry.com/April-Rain-Song

Pterosaurs

Pterosaurs
TERR-oh-sawrs (winged lizards)

The pterrifying pterosaurs
Flew ptours the ptime of dinosaurs.
With widespread wings and pteeth pto ptear,
The pterrorized the pteeming air.
They were not ptame.
They were ptenacious--
From the Ptriassic
Pto the Cretaceous.


By Douglas Florian

Found here:  http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/2011/04/poetry-in-classroom-diggin-on-dinosaurs.html

In the elementary school spelling bee

In the elementary school spelling bee

when you intentionally
misspelled heifer,
he almost had a cow.

You're the only kid
on your block
at school
in THE. ENTIRE. FREAKIN'. WORLD.
who lives in a prison
of words.
He calls it the pursuit of excellence.
You call it Shawshank.
And even though your mother
forbids you to say it,
the truth is
you
HATE
words.

From Kwame Alexander's novel in verse, Booked. Excerpted here.

An Ancient Horse

An Ancient Horse by Jeff Moss
 
Hyracotherium, a tiny horse
Lived millions of years ago.
He measured just twelve inches high,
So what I'd like to know -
Did paleontologist ever find,
Near where that horse was at,
Some eensy-weensy boots and spurs
And a teeny cowboy hat?




Found here  :)

Earth Day

By Jane Yolen

 

 

I am the Earth

And the Earth is me.

Each blade of grass,

Each honey tree,

Each bit of mud,

And stick and stone

Is blood and muscle,

Skin and bone.

And just as I

Need every bit

Of me to make

My body fit,

So Earth needs

Grass and stone and tree

And things that grow here

Naturally.

That’s why we

Celebrate this day.

That’s why across

The world we say:

As long as life,

As dear, as free,

I am the Earth

And the Earth is me. 

 

Found on Poetry Foundation here. 

One Fine Day In the Middle of the Night

One fine day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight, 

Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot each other,

One was blind and the other couldn’t, see
So they chose a dummy for a referee.
A blind man went to see fair play,
A dumb man went to shout “hooray!”

A paralyzed donkey passing by,
Kicked the blind man in the eye,
Knocked him through a nine inch wall,
Into a dry ditch and drowned them all,

A deaf policeman heard the noise,
And came to arrest the two dead boys,
If you don’t believe this story’s true,
Ask the blind man he saw it too!

This goofy folk rhyme has as many variations as there are little boys who love reciting the silliness. Learn more here. 

Speak Up

Speak Up
by Janet Wong

*You're Korean, aren't you?
Yes.
*Why don't you speak
*Korean?
Just don't, I guess.
*Say something Korean.
I don't speak it.
I can't.
*Cmon. Say something.
Halmoni. Grandmother.
Haraboji. Grandfather.
Imo. Aunt.
*Say some other stuff.
*Sounds funny.
*Sounds strange.
Hey, let's listen to you
for a change.
*Listen to me?
Say some foreign words.
*But I'm American,
*can't you see?
Your family came from
somewhere else.
Sometime.
*But I was born here.
So was I. 


Found here. 

National Poetry Month 2015!!

Today is the first day of National Poetry Month! So I start us off with my favorite poem for this event... Daffadowndilly  :)


 

Daffadowndilly

by A.A. Milne

She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south wind
And curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbour:
"Winter is dead."


Found here on All Poetry dot com

The Voice

The Voice
by Shel Silverstein

There is a voice inside of you
That whispers all day long,
‘I feel this is right for me,
I know that this is wrong.’
No teacher, preacher, parent, friend
Or wise man can decide
What’s right for you–just listen to
The voice that speaks inside.



http://www.soulseeds.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/listen-to-voice-inside1.jpg

For My Son, Reading Harry Potter

For My Son, Reading Harry Potter

by Michael Blumenthal

How lovely, to be lost
as you are now
in someone else's thoughts
an imagined world
of witchcraft, wizardry and clans
that takes you in so utterly
all the ceaseless background noise
of life's insistent pull and drag soon fades
and you are left, a young boy
captured in attention's undivided daze,
as I was once
when books defined a world
no trouble could yet penetrate
or others spoil, or regret stain,
when, between covers, under covers,
all is safe and sure
and each Odysseus makes it home again
and every transformation is to bird or bush
or to a star atwinkle in some firmament of light,
or to a club that lets you, and all others, in.
Oh, how I wish for you
that life may let you turn and turn
these pages, in whose spell
time is frozen, as is pain and fright and loss
before you're destined to be lost again
in that disordered and distressing book
your life will write for you and cannot change.


http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2014%2F10%2F13

Eletelephony

Eletelephony

Laura Elizabeth Richards

Once there was an elephant,
Who tried to use the telephant—
No! No! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone—
(Dear me! I am not certain quite
That even now I’ve got it right.)  

Howe’er it was, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk;
The more he tried to get it free,
The louder buzzed the telephee—
(I fear I’d better drop the song
Of elephop and telephong!)

Found on Academy of American Poets website here. 

The Dentist and the Crocodile

The Dentist and the Crocodile

By Roald Dahl

The crocodile, with cunning smile, sat in the dentist's chair.
He said, "Right here and everywhere my teeth require repair."
The dentist's face was turning white. He quivered, quaked and shook.
He muttered, "I suppose I'm going to have to take a look."

"I want you," Crocodile declared, "to do the back ones first.

           The molars at the very back are easily the worst."

 He opened wide his massive jaws. It was a fearsome sight––

 At least three hundred pointed teeth, all sharp and shining white.

 The dentist kept himself well clear. He stood two yards away.
 He chose the longest probe he had to search out the decay.
 “I said to do the back ones first!" the Crocodile called out.
 "You're much too far away, dear sir, to see what you're about.

 To do the back ones properly you've got to put your head

 Deep down inside my great big mouth," the grinning Crocky said.

 The poor old dentist wrung his hands and, weeping in despair,

 He cried, "No no! I see them all extremely well from here!"

 Just then, in burst a lady, in her hands a golden chain.
 She cried, "Oh Croc, you naughty boy, you're playing tricks again!"
 "Watch out!" the dentist shrieked and started climbing up the wall.
 "He's after me! He's after you! He's going to eat us all!"

 "Don't be a twit," the lady said, and flashed a gorgeous smile.

 "He's harmless. He's my little pet, my lovely crocodile."

Found here on NPR's review of the book Poetry Speaks to Children. 

Rabbit

Rabbit
by Mary Ann Hoberman

    A rabbit
             Bit
 A little bit
An itty-bitty
   Little bit of beet
    Then bit
        By bit
        He bit
     Because he liked the taste of it



Found through a Writers Digest article here.

A Wolf is at the Laundromat

A Wolf Is at the Laundromat
By Jack Prelutsky 

A wolf is at the Laundromat,

it's not a wary stare-wolf,

it's short and fat, it tips its hat,

unlike a scary glare-wolf.

It combs its hair, it clips its toes,

it is a fairly rare wolf,

that's only there to clean its clothes—

it is a wash-and-wear-wolf.

 

 

Found at the Poetry Foundation here. 

Last Night I Dreamed of Chickens

by Jack Prelutsky

Last night I dreamed of chickens,
there were chickens everywhere,
they were standing on my stomach,
they were nesting in my hair,
they were pecking at my pillow,
they were hopping on my head,
they were ruffling up their feathers
as they raced about my bed.

They were on the chairs and tables,
they were on the chandeliers,
they were roosting in the corners,
they were clucking in my ears,
there were chickens, chickens, chickens
for as far as I could see...
when I woke today, I noticed
there were eggs on top of me.

Found here on Poets.org 

Civilized Boy

Civilized Boy

by L. Frank Baum

Pray, what can a civilized
                            boy do now,
       When all the Dragons all
                                          are dead,
And the Giants stout,
                that we have read about,
      Have never one a head?

Now, wasn't it mean that Jack o'the
                                                     Bean
    Should slay these monsters fast,
And the other Jack should cut and hack
    When there weren't enough to last?

The boys today are as bold as they say,
       As ever they were of yore;
And they'd spill a flood
        of Dragon's Blood
     If Dragons lived
                   any more.


Found here in an etext version of his book of poems, Father Goose, His Book. 

The Jabberwocky

The Jabberwocky

 by Lewis Carroll

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe. 

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!" 

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought--
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arm, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe 


Found here at the Lewis Carroll etext collection 

Recipe For A Hippopotamus Sandwich

by Shel Silverstein

A hippo sandwich is easy to make.
All you do is simply take
One slice of bread,
One slice of cake,
Some mayonnaise
One onion ring,
One hippopotamus
One piece of string,
A dash of pepper —
That ought to do it.
And now comes the problem…
Biting into it!

 

 

found here on All Poetry dot com

A House is a House for Me

excerpts from A House is a House for Me 

by Mary Ann Hoberman

A hill is a house for an ant, an ant
A hive is a house for a bee
A hole is a house for a mole or a mouse
And a house is a house for me!
*** *** ***
 
And if you get started in thinking,
I think you will find it is true
That the more that you think about houses for things
The more things are houses, to you…
*** *** ***
 
How peaches are houses for peachpits
And sometimes are houses for worms;
How trashcans are houses for garbage
And garbage make houses for germs.
*** *** ***
 
And once you get started in thinking this way,
It seems that whatever you see
Is either a house or it lives in a house,
And a house is a house for me!


Found on YouTube here and in my childhood bookshelf  :)

If All the Seas Were One Sea

If all the seas were one sea...


A Mother Goose rhyme
 


If all the seas were one sea,
What a great sea that would be!
If all the trees were one tree,
What a great tree that would be!
If all the axes were one axe,
What a great axe that would be!
If all the men were one man,
What a great man he would be!
And if the great man took the great axe,
And cut down the great tree,
And let it fall into the great sea,
What a great splash-splash that would be! 


Found here at Gutenberg dot org 

Also, check out the XKCD science nerd analysis of this rhyme HERE