Poetryaction and Bookalikes for Emu

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.)

If you’re not a regular reader here, welcome! I share poetryactions, or poems written in reaction to picture books (usually) on a fairly regular basis. And I’m sharing one today!

prxn_Emu

One of my favorite things about Claire Saxby’s Emu is her use of verbs.

  • Emu gentles down
  • sunshine follows frost
  • winds fetch rain

Aren’t those fabulous? It’s not the verbs themselves, but the unusual way she used them. Using adjectives as verbs, using verbs to anthropomorphize something inanimate, using unexpected verbs…yum! So, since our beagle, Captain Jack Sparrow, was drooling and scratching at the door to go bark at Charlie next door (while ignoring a rabbit sitting right ON our deck), I wrote this poem for Jack.

ba_Emu

 

Check out my Pinterest boards of poetryactions and bookalikes if you’d like to see more.  

Also, thank you for all my birthday wishes yesterday–I had a wonderful day. And, visit my favorite poem farmer, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, for the Poetry Friday Roundup at The Poem Farm!

21 Responses

  1. Love ‘his mouth waters the world’, Laura. We had a sheepdog once… And this book, Emu, is one of my favorites, so fabulous. I also loved The Big Red Kangaroo by Claire Saxby & Graham Byrne.

  2. Your use of verbs in this poem is fabulous, and it’s such a great modeling of craft from a book. Oh, Jack! Happy happy Poetry Friday and birthday week, my friend! xo

    1. Thanks, Amy. Those are my favorite poetryactions to write, I think…when there’s a specific writing technique I can focus on from the book. Thanks for hosting (loved your dog poem!) and the birthday wishes:>)

    1. Thanks, Brenda. Jack is probably somewhat easier to love from a distance, but he is a cutie pie!

  3. Very nice, Laura! I love “eagers up” as much as “gentles down.” Also, “his tail steers his hind end” — perfect.

    1. Thanks, Michelle–this was a fun one to write. I love learning from the picture books I read:>)

  4. this is wonderful I live when you write about Jack glad you had a wonderful Birthday

  5. This is a good reminder that a reaction to a book doesn’t have to be to content! Instead of saying, “I wish I could write like that…” you DID!

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