Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.)
I love a poetry collection that’s a good mash-up, so Leslie Bulion’s latest, Random Body Parts (Peachtree, 2015), makes me squeal with joy! First, it’s poems about body parts. Yes, please. Annnd, it’s poems in a ton of different poetic forms. Excellent. But wait. There’s more. Every poem has a nod to Shakespeare’s writing. Say whaaaaaaat?
I know. It’s too much to take in, isn’t it?
To get the idea, I’m going to have to share a poem, its sidebar, and its end note. Since my stomach growls all the time (so embarrassing), I’m sharing the poem “Lunchtime.” Seatbelt buckled? Here we go!
Lunchtime
Thrice the empty pot has whined.
Thrice times thrice the cavern gapes.
The signal comes: ‘Tis time, ’tis time!
In the cauldron, mix and stew
Choice ingredients for our brew:
Flesh of fowl ground into hash,
Blood of berries bled from mash,
Wheat paste wet with human spit,
Plant parts mangled bit by bit.
Grumble, grumble, roil and rumble,
Acid burn and slurry tumble.
Lumps of lard from fatted swine,
Shellfish innards laced with brine,
Spuds unearthed from ud, then fried,
Mucus oozed from deep inside,
Milk that’s soured into curd–
Borborygmus roars are heard!
With a pulverizing rumble,
Churn and thrash the slushy jumble.
?–Leslie Bulion, all rights reserved
Sidebar: Your stomach, more a muscular bag than an empty pot, churns food into a thick, liquidy shake called chyme. Putting food in your cavernous mouth signals your stomach to produce strong acids and digestive juices that help break food down into nutrients your body can use. Luckily, the stomach is coated with slimy mucus so it can’t digest itself! The growling sound your stomach and intestines make as they work is called borborygmus (bor/bor/RIG/mus). [Addendum: Now on school visits, I can apologize for my borborygmus!]
End note: Lunchtime: This poem is written with the same rhyme pattern and number of beats, or meter, as the witches’ speech in William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth: “Double, double toil and trouble;/Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.” Imitating? a well-known poem is a wonderful way to practice rhythm and rhyme in poetry. After the first three non-rhyming lines, the rest of the poem is written in couplets–two lines in a row that rhyme. What part of your body is “the cavern” in the beginning of the poem?
Wow. You’ve got your STEM, your poetry writing, your Shakespeare reading–all tied up in a neat, clever collection. I got to see a sneak peak of this back at NCTE when Leslie posed for my Be a Star campaign!
And we got to go out for a yummy breakfast and walked the exhibit floor a bit, too, where I admired Leslie’s new book at the Peachtree booth.
I highly recommend Random Body Parts–perfect for science teachers, English teachers, poetry lovers, Shakespeare fans, and anyone who like a bit of dark humor. If you’re hungry for good poetry, stave off borborygmus (see what I did there) with a copy of Random Body Parts.
And don’t miss the Poetry Friday Roundup at Carol’s Corner today.
Wow, Laura, that was quite a mouthful to digest! How much fun is that to have science integrated with Shakespeare. I am looking forward to our meet-up on Friday night in St. Louis.
Hehehehe. It’ll be great to see you! I have a dinner Friday night (must start getting my whole schedule put together!), but am looking forward to seeing you:>)
Wow, Laura, that was quite a mouthful to digest! How much fun is that to have science integrated with Shakespeare. I am looking forward to our meet-up on Friday night in St. Louis.
Hehehehe. It’ll be great to see you! I have a dinner Friday night (must start getting my whole schedule put together!), but am looking forward to seeing you:>)
Great pun, Carol.
Leslie Bulion deserves to be on your “Be a Star” poster. Her poetry book,Random Body Part,s is brilliant. Thanks so much for bringing her work to our attention, Laura. You know how to write a strong endorsement! Well done and much fun!
She did so much in this book–it’s a feat of word engineering!
Great pun, Carol.
Leslie Bulion deserves to be on your “Be a Star” poster. Her poetry book,Random Body Part,s is brilliant. Thanks so much for bringing her work to our attention, Laura. You know how to write a strong endorsement! Well done and much fun!
She did so much in this book–it’s a feat of word engineering!
Awesome poster!
And every word of the poem is just right. “Churn and thrash the slushy jumble” !
Isn’t it–I love the language!
Awesome poster!
And every word of the poem is just right. “Churn and thrash the slushy jumble” !
Isn’t it–I love the language!
Love what you’ve shared–this is going to the top of my wish list!
Enjoy!
Love what you’ve shared–this is going to the top of my wish list!
Enjoy!
That sound like an awesome book covering sosososo many aspects of general, specific and necessary learnedness! Thanks for introducing us!
That sound like an awesome book covering sosososo many aspects of general, specific and necessary learnedness! Thanks for introducing us!
Oh my gosh, I love it!! I have to get my hands on this book.
It’s wonderful!
Oh my gosh, I love it!! I have to get my hands on this book.
It’s wonderful!
I shared poems from this book at the end of the year when we were studying body systems. They were a great hit with fifth graders!
I bet–just clever enough and just gross enough at the same time!
I shared poems from this book at the end of the year when we were studying body systems. They were a great hit with fifth graders!
I bet–just clever enough and just gross enough at the same time!
I love Leslie’s poetry, and this book is indeed an amazing trifecta of poetry, science, and Shakespeare. Thanks for sharing this today!
Nonfiction + poetry is the best! Not at all surprised you’re a fan of Leslie’s :>)
I love Leslie’s poetry, and this book is indeed an amazing trifecta of poetry, science, and Shakespeare. Thanks for sharing this today!
Nonfiction + poetry is the best! Not at all surprised you’re a fan of Leslie’s :>)