Poems About Books and Words

Books

Books!

All sizes, all colors,

whispering,

"Come inside!"

"Come inside!"

Printed words

are a mystery.

How can they be

full of sounds?

How can you

look at this page

and hear my voice?

Read this and see

a green parrot

with a

bright read head

and long

purple

tail

feathers.

Words can frighten.

Words can sing.

Words can tickle.

Words can sting.

Words show us

worlds

never seen before.

Read this

and see

golden waves

crash

on a crimson shore.

And don't forget...

books smell good

too.

         ~ Mordicai Gerstein

            from Dear Hot Dog

Giant Bookmobile of Tomorrow

I am a very moving van.

Driver: he's the Gingerbread Man.

Fuel: imagination power.

Speed: a dozen aisles per hour.

Whether it be comic strips,

Poetry at your fingertips,

Picture books or trivia,

The Wizard of Oz, Olivia,

My bookmobile has just one goal:

To entertain on cruise control.

but kids get on at every block

And I forget to watch the clock.

So if my van is "overdue,"

It's okay if you are too.

    

        J. Patrick Lewis

              from Poem-Mobiles

CALLING ALL READERS

I'll tell you a story.
I'll spin you a rhyme.
I'll spill some ideas ----
and we'll travel through time.

Put down the controller.
Switch off the TV.
Abandon the mouse and
just hand out with me.

I promise adventure.
Come on, take a look!
On a day like today,
there's no friend like a book.

Laura Purdis Salas
from Book Speak!

Poetry

Poetry is like some
sugar-crazed teenager
who just got a license
but refusees to follow
the rules of the road.

It races out of control
then jams up the traffic by
going reeaaaaaal slooooooow.
It turns up the music so loud
you can’t figure out how it Decides
to capitalize certains Words.
Punctuation? Ha! A joke!
Won’t use complete sentences.

And why does it refuse to
stay
on
the
line?
The most annoying thing?
Poetry won’t shut up.
It embarrasses everyone
by telling the truth.

Ralph Fletcher
from A Writing Kind of Day

In the Land of Words

In the land

of words,

I stand as still

as a tree,

and let the words

rain down on me.

Come, rain, bring

your knowledge and your

music. Sing

while I grow green

and full.

I’ll stand as still

as a tree,

and let your blessings

fall on me

Eloise Greenfield

from In the Land of Words