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Airplane 15wol

Who, Me? [15 Words or Less Poems]

Welcome to 15 Words or Less Poems Day! Are you ready to wake up your poetry brains with our weekly exercise (guidelines here)? Here’s my next pic taken in March on the way home from South Bend, IN to Minneapolis, MN.   This image makes me think of:

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Putrid Poetic Ponderings

Putrid Poetry: Day 7: Head Cheese

Dr. Pasternak: Stealth Poet Poetry Assignment #7: Rhyme Head Cheese It wiggles and shimmies and does a slight jig It’s gelatin pickled with pieces of pig There’s a sliver of tongue and a big chunk of heart There’s a huge hunk of dark and mysterious pig part. It’s nasty!  Revolting! Disgusting to see! And I

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Putrid Poetic Ponderings

Putrid Poetry: Day 6: If You Accidentally Swallow Ocean Water

Louis J. Pasternak Poetry Assignment #6: The List Poem If You Accidentally Swallow Ocean Water … you also swallow: gloopy whale blubber broken starfish arms penguin poop dead fish sunken ships lobster shells and all the pee of all the kids in the world, even kids in Europe and Australia and Africa and including my

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Putrid Poetic Ponderings

Putrid Poetry: Day 5: Shh…It’s a Snake

[Note from Laura: Hi, teachers and readers! If Louis were writing a gross poem about me today, it would be about head colds, congestion, crusty stuff, and maybe green stuff, too. :>(  Yup, I’ve got a cold. And I’m glad Louis isn’t here to describe it. Thanks for reading!] Louis J. Pasternak Poetry Assignment #5:

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Putrid Poetic Ponderings

Putrid Poetry: Day 4: Pimple Popping

Louis J. Pasternak Poetry Assignment #4: Repetition Pimple Popping There’s a pimple on my cheek and I’m dying just to pop it I was picking at it yesterday ’til Marty hollered, “Stop it!” It’s shiny and it’s white and I’m dying just to pop it Bran shows off his callus but he knows that doesn’t

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Putrid Poetic Ponderings

Putrid Poetry: Day 3: My Grand Canyon Feet

Louis J. Pasternak Poetry Assignment #3: Metaphors My Grand Canyon Feet Under a magnifying glass, my feet form a desert– sandy, dry, cracked deep slices carved out: canyons that held rivers a zillion years ago in the Great Foot Desert. Only sweat trickles through canyons Mysterious mosses sometimes grow there if I forget flip-flops for

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Putrid Poetic Ponderings

Putrid Poetry: Day 2: Lovebug Popcorn

Louis J. Pasternak Poetry Assignment #2: Similes Lovebug Popcorn Kamikaze lovebugs crowd highways, smash into our windshield, explode like splotchy white popcorn Miss S – Did you see my simile? Lovebugs look like popcorn! How cool is that? Louis, I am always devastated when I drive through swarms of lovebugs in May…such a tragic loss

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Putrid Poetic Ponderings

Putrid Poetry: Day 1: It Begins

It Begins Miss Sweetmallow said we had to write poetry. I hate poetry. I like folding my eyelids back so you can see the wet parts underneath. I like playing basketball until I’m dripping in sweat and then shaking my whole body so everybody gets a shower. I even like to risk getting poisoned every

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tiny toy machine 15wol

Eggshell [15 Words or Less Poems]

Welcome to 15 Words or Less Poems Day! Are you ready to wake up your poetry brains with our weekly exercise (guidelines here)? Most of my pics seem to come from airports or planes lately! All this next month I’ll be using pics taken on the way home from South Bend, IN to Minneapolis, MN.

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Rabbits Recycle

Rabbits Recycle, from Putrid Poetic Ponderings [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Here’s a poem from The Putrid Poetic Ponderings of Louis J. Pasternak, AKA Dr. Skullstench, which I’ll be sharing in serial form right here throughout National Poetry Month. If you know of teachers who might be looking for a humorous, accessible poetry read-aloud for Poetry

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string lights 15wol

Tangled [15 Words or Less Poems]

Welcome to 15 Words or Less Poems Day! Are you ready to wake up your poetry brains with our weekly exercise (guidelines here)? Most of my pics seem to come from airports or planes lately! This one is in O’Hare. This image makes me think of:

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The Penn-Harris-Madison Young Authors Conference

Monday, I shared the group poems written  by the K‑5 students at the Penn-Harris-Madison Young Authors Conference last weekend in Mishiwaka, IN. Today, I want to just share a few details/thoughts on the event. My entire family except me was born in Indiana, and I found out right before I left Minnesota that my maternal

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prxn_Summer_Birds

Poetryaction for Summer Birds [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I got to meet Margarita Engle at NCTE last fall when we were signing books next to each other. What a lovely person! Have you read her Summer Birds, with glorious illustrations by Julie Paschkis? I confess I’m not a huge bug person. Leaving behind

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Landing in Chicago

Landing [15 Words or Less Poems]

Welcome to 15 Words or Less Poems Day! Are you ready to wake up your poetry brains with our weekly exercise (guidelines here)? Well, I’m kind of annoyed that there’s a person in my picture! The lens didn’t click fast enough, I guess. Oh well. When I visited Wealthy Elementary School last month in Michigan,

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