Monday, May 19, 2014

All Creatures... Great and Small, Scary and Silly

As Poetry on Parade marches through Springtime, we're discovering that many of our favorite poems feature creatures: all sorts of creatures... real or imagined, great and small, scary and silly.  
First, let's read a great poem about a great creature. Eletelephony, written by Laura Elizabeth Richards, includes wonderful wordplay and ridiculous rhyme.  The tongue-twisty poem doesn't specify whether the enormous, plant-munching mammal in question is of African or Asian variety. We wonder: which species is more likely to pick up a telephone?

Eletelephony

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!)

Next up, we share a poetic moment with creatures of the small and squeaky variety; namely, minuscule rodents with pointed snouts, rounded ears, and long hairless tails.  Eek!  Elizabeth and Paige read Mice, a whimsical poem by English poet Rose Fyleman:


When we think of scary creatures, frightening and unfriendly monsters come to mind.  Fortunately, these scary creatures are also imaginary creatures!  Here's The Monster, written by James Proimos and performed by Kyle:


Sometimes, the creature is silly and the poem is porky!  Take a look at My Pig Put on a Bathing Suit, written by Jack Prelutsky, with a video presentation created by Harrison and John O. 



By most accounts, pigs are intelligent, highly social omnivores, which means they would probably enjoy reading, sharing... and eating poetry! 

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