Laura Purdie Salas

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You are here: Home / Poems for Kids / Poem of the Day: The Doubtful Duckling (by Marilyn Singer)

Poem of the Day: The Doubtful Duckling (by Marilyn Singer)

April 28, 2010 By Laura

 

I just read Marilyn Singer‘s fantastic new picture book, Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse (Dutton, 2010, stunningly illustrated by Josee Masse). Oh! Marilyn has invented a new kind of poem, the reverso. Take a poem, place the lines in reverse order, fiddle with the punctuation and capitalization, and make a brand new poem. Simple, right? Ha! Most of these clever poem pairs represent two different characters, but this one, my favorite, shows two different sides of the Ugly Duckling.

The Doubtful Duckling

Someday
I’ll turn into a swan.
No way
I’ll stay
an ugly duckling,
stubby and gray.
Plain to see–
look at me.
A beauty I’ll be

A beauty I’ll be?
Look at me–
plain to see,
stubby and gray.
An ugly duckling
I’ll stay.
No way
I’ll turn into a swan
someday.

–Marilyn Singer, all rights reserved

 

Tagged With: Marilyn Singer, National Poetry Month 2010 (Poem a Day), poems, poetry books, reversos

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Related

« Poem of the Day: Black spider (by Rebecca Kai Dotlich)
Poem of the Day: My Best Buddy (by Linda Ashman) »

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