ZOO POEM

Happy Poetry Friday, and welcome to Roundup! To celebrate Tuesday's release of my new novel DON'T FEED THE BOY, which is set at a zoo, I invited 2012 Kidlit Progressive Poem participants to help create a group zoo poem!

The instructions were simple: choose a favorite zoo animal and write a rhyming couplet about that animal.

All I did was collect the couplets and do the slightest bit of arranging and editing.... for instance, I chose Linda Baie's couplet to start the poem because she's the only one who included the word "zoo" and that places our poem. I added some punctuation. I changed a couple of couplets from past tense to present, as the vast majority of couplets were written in present tense and that should be consistent throughout a poem. 

For the ending couplet, I chose Mary Lee's, because she brought us back to "one," which gives the poems something of a narrative arc. I selected the title that I am sure can be improved upon... and that's it! Enjoy these lovely couplets with all their originality and fun. 

And THANK YOU, friends, for playing. (I hope I didn't miss anyone... I changed email after I made the request, so if I did happen to miss yours, please post in comments and I will add it!) Y'all inspire me!

Animal Encounter

Arriving at the giraffes, I stretch my neck high at the zoo.

Meeting face to face as friends, however, proves difficult to do.     Linda Baie

Seals slip into their watery home

sail like an arrow, smooth as stone.     Caroline Starr Rose

The anteater announces, “I am one

who’ll eat an army just for fun."          Penny Klostermann

Watch your pockets! The goats

eat not just food, but coats!                Jeannine Atkins

On llama duty? Do not sit!

(These camel-cousins love to spit.)     Miranda Paul

Koala sleeps the day away,

but at night he likes to play.               Anastasia Suen

Ring-tailed lemur climbs a tree;
tail for balance, not trapeze.              Pat Weaver

He cannot fly, but he sure can run;

watching Emu is a lot of fun!                 Linda Kulp

Smooth and graceful, polar bear

glides then floats, nose in the air.         Sheri Doyle

Few creatures have the knack

of climbing mountains like the Yak.   Doraine Bennett


In Golden Marmoset City,
vine highways are always busy.          Tabatha Yeatts

Tamarins all wear

an abundance of hair.                     Dian Mayr

Elephant waves good-bye with her trunk.
Will she forget me? Oh no, I thunk.                Marjorie at Paper Tigers

Capybara goes to tea,
Wears a tiara designed by me.       Jone MacCulloch

Up periscope in a green, green sea--

giraffe turns his head to nibble leaves.             Kate Coombs

This python wrapped around my hand
will one day  s - t - r - e  -t - c - h  the length I stand.         Robyn Hood Black

Peacock spreads his tail.  Surprise!

A feather-ocean....full of eyes.                 Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

The rhino is my talisman.
We're brave; we're each a herd of one.      Mary Lee Hahn

- Poetry Friday Friends

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