Poetry Quick Picks

Written (more or less) in the style of each author/book in honor of National Poetry Month


I've Lost My Hippopotamus by Jack Prelutsky, with illustrations by Jackie Urbanovic

Prince of Puns

Jack Prelutsky likes to spell—
It's something he does very well.
But while others spell predictably,
he punts his puns with reckless glee.
Prelutsky especially likes portmanteaus,
so in this book you'll find plenty of those:
words like "wiguana," "blumpazump,"
"boomerangutan," "gludu," "clipmunk."
Jack "hunts for eggs on Halloween,"
tells of "a vegetable that few have seen,"
"gazes through a telescope,"
and describes the "pelicantaloupe."
His poems have unexpected ends.
Use them to surprise your friends.



Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It by Gail Carson Levine, with illustrations by Matthew Cordell

This Is Just to Say

I have written
a book
full of fake
apology poems

when you
were probably
expecting
another princess tale

Forgive me
they were devious
to write
and deliciously snarky



Every Thing On It, written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein

Shel Speaks

You thought I couldn't do it again,
a whole new book of oddball poems.
But I'll surprise you one last time
with ditties, puns, and palindromes.
There's a poem for my dentist, in fact
there are two. You know how dentists are.
There's one for a mouse that lived under my house,
and one for the newest superstar.
I wrote about Santa's clumsiest elf,
about snails and porcupines playing ball.
I wrote of a boy with transparent guts
and a basketball player named Henry Hall.
There are jokes that rely upon word play
and jokes that rely on my art.
I've given you 28 uses for noodles
and a pelican with a fickle heart.
Dirty feet contests, man-eating plants,
genies, garlic breath, trampolines,
two blue souls with their masks on tight,
the dance of the shoes, strange hats, and screams.
There's even a joke about elephant poo
and a terse biography.
(The elephant poo is just for you.
The biography is for me.)


Note #1: You'll find no actual palindromes in this book. I refer you to Shel's poem, "Lizard."

Note #2: Thanks to HarperCollins for sending me review copies of these three books, and for supporting poetry!