Monday, April 23, 2018

Penguin Poems


Emperor Penguins

Shuffle-shuffle.
That’s what emperor daddies do all winter long,
huddled in with a flock of other fathers,
each one shuffling with an egg balanced on his feet,
folded in a flap of skin to keep it warm ---
cuddled from the cold.

Shuffle-huddle, shuffle-huddle,
through dark and cruel cold,
through biting blizzards.
They are quiet heroes, waiting
for the peep peep of their hatching chick
and the voice of their mate, returning from the sea.

                By Nicola Davies
                From Song of the Wild: A First Book of Animals

Also about Emperor Penguins:

The Flying Leap

Built
to swim
not too slim
we don’t fly
wouldn’t try
waddle stop
belly-flop, slip
slide toboggan
glide - icy dash ends
with SPLASH! Wings
are fins for twirls and
spins, we plunge
below
pack ice and snow for
fish for krill for squid until
we’ve fished our fill.  Our
young ones will be overjoyed
if we avoid becoming meals
for leopard seals lurking grim
at ice floe’s rim.  We know they’re there
we’re well aware so we prepare:  our feathers trap air.
When we release bubbles our
swimming speed DOUBLES!
We jet from the sea
predator-free
we catch air – wheeeee!

by Leslie Bulion
from Superlative Birds

Diary of a Very Short Winter Day

At the first hint of dawn
I awake with a yawn
And follow my cousins
(All thirty-three dozen)
To the end of the land,
Where we stand and we stand,
Playing who’ll-dive-in-first,
And, fearing the worst,
We listen for seals
Who want us for meals.
I see one penguin lunge,
Then in we all plunge,
Take a bath, gulp a snack,
And climb out in a pack….
Hurry back to our home
For a quick preen and comb
So our feathers aren’t wet
As we watch the sun set.

                By Judy Sierra
                From Antarctic Antics: A Book of Penguin Poems
                Based on the real lives of emperor penguins

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