Tag: Jack Prelutsky

Two Poems about the Nose

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Tanita Here. Thank you, Tanita, for hosting.

Laura Shovan’s February Poetry Project is over and I almost managed to write a poem everyday except, I think, two. Still I am very proud I managed to write while and visit relatives most of February. So Yay! And it was wonderful reading so many different responses to daily prompts.

Today I will share another of the poems I started this month. I can’t recall the prompt, but I chose to celebrate the nose and how it aids the human race.

But I am hardly the only poet to celebrate the nose. Below are two stanzas from a poem by Jack Prelutsky, who is glad the nose is where it is on the face and not elsewhere:

BE GLAD YOUR NOSE IS ON YOUR FACE
by Jack Prelutsky

Be glad your nose is on your face, 
not pasted on some other place, 
for if it were where it is not, 
you might dislike your nose a lot. 

Imagine if your precious nose 
were sandwiched in between your toes, 
that clearly would not be a treat, 
for you'd be forced to smell your feet. 

The rest of the poem can be read HERE

My poem expresses gratitude for the nose differently:

ODE TO OLFACTION

Who'd care to propose
we dispense with the nose?

In quiet stealth,
the nose promotes health,

and its arrival
boosted survival

when early man found
smell as useful as sound,

and a benefaction
to detect putrefaction.

which is why we retreat
when we smell dodgy meat. 


© Janice Scully 2023

It’s interesting, I think, to consider all the things the different parts of our healthy bodies do for us and they all deserve a poem or two.

Of course we can’t sit around all day contemplating the human body, we’re too busy doing what we do! But we can still be grateful, now and again, for this collection of miracles.

Beets Anyone?

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone, HERE. Thank you, Molly, for hosting.

It’s August and I’m inundated on some days with vegetables from my generous neighbor, Mike’s, garden. When he knocks at my door, I know I better clear the afternoon of all planned activities. This week he brought beets, lettuce and squash, just picked. It’s an amazing gift.

I love the beet greens and the roots themselves, but I wonder what kids must think of them. Though pickled beets were served once upon a time in my family restaurant, I was loathe to touch them and didn’t. But, after growing up and trying fresh beets from a garden, well, I changed my tune.

I easily found a kid’s poem written about beets. Here’s the first stanza of a poem by Jack Prelutsky from NEW KID ON THE BLOCK. The full poem is HERE.

I'd Never Eat a Beet
by Jack Prelutsky (stanza 1) 

I'd never eat a beet, because
I could not stand the taste,
I'd rather nibble drinking straws,
or fountain pens, or paste,
I'd eat a window curtain
and perhaps a roller skate,
but a beet, you may be certain
would be wasted on my plate.

Vegetables do lend themselves to humor. Did you ever wonder why? If you have a theory why, share it in the comments. Goofy shapes? The Colors? The fact that parents are always trying to get kids to eat them?

The words to the poem below came to mind after roasting some beets today.

BEETS

Today my mother peeled some,
her hands turned fiery red.
I asked, "What are they made of?

Mother never said.

And every August here they are!
Rolling on my plate
in a pool of vinegar.

Taste them? No, I’ll wait. 

© Janice Scully 2022

Enjoy the summer, and all sorts of fresh fruit and veggies that grow from the ground and nourish us.

A Mentor Poem by Jack Prelutsky and a Postcard.

Happy Poetry Friday, this week hosted by teacher and writer, Elizabeth Norton HERE, at her blog “Unexpected Intersections.” Thank you for hosting this week, Elizabeth. I am looking forward to what she has to offer us this week.

I have some ideas for some new poems for kids that I hope will be light and humorous. So in search of further ideas about form and style, I turned to Sylvia Vardell’s wonderful anthology, A WORLD FULL OF POEMS, a book I’ve mentioned before.

I quickly discovered a poem by Jack Prelutsky, with repetition, rhyming and humor that meshed with my topic. Here is the first stanza:

I'M MUCH TOO TIRED TO PLAY TONIGHT
by Jack Prelutsky

I’m much too tired to play tonight,
I’m much too tired to talk,
I’m much too tired to pet the dog,
or take him for a walk,
I’m much too tired to bounce a ball,
I’m much too tired to sing,
I’m much to tired to try to think
about a single thing.

read the rest Here.

So, using this as a mentor poem, and given our zero degree temperatures lately in New York, I came up with this:

TOO COLD TO PLAY OUTSIDE TODAY
(Inspired by Jack Prelutsky's "I'm Much Too Tired to Play Tonight") 

Too cold to play outside today,
too cold to climb the slide,
too cold to swing on swings today,
too cold to chase and hide,

too cold to throw a rubber ball,
too cold to skip and run,
too cold to sleigh ride down the hill,
there’s hardly any sun!

But I'm tired of playing silly games,
I'm bored with the TV!
I chased the dog around the house,
now Sister’s mad at me.

So although it is a cold, cold day
not fit for even crows,
I'll put on my coat, my boots, my hat
and plunge into the snow. 

@ Janice Scully 2022

Maybe writing this was good luck, because as I write this it’s a warm 40 F and I hear dripping from the eaves. I think I’ll even play outside today.

Before I close, I have a beautiful postcard and haiku from Carol Labuzzetta to share from Arches National Park. I wish I could go there today! Thank you, Carol! 

Eye of the tiger
Keenly seeing the future
Blinking honestly

© Carol Labuzzetta 2022

Good health to all! Thank you, Elizabeth Norton, for hosting!