Have You Read? #16

It was about this time two years ago that I met Bob Raczka. He came to town to present a workshop (entitled ARTiculate) with four other authors/illustrators and me at the International Reading Association convention. Every one of his books is in our library collection, and many are in my home library. The latest is incredible!

Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word came out this year, and it has me thinking constantly. Bob's introduction tells of his love for playing with words. He discovered single-word poems and was hooked. The idea sounds simple enough. Take a single word, form words from the letters in that word, and create a poem with them. The poems in Bob's book are about lemonade, bleachers, moonlight, breakfast, friends, chocolate, and so many more interesting words. On one side of the page, the letters/words are arranged in an interesting design. On the other side, the poem is written more as we would usually read one. Take the poem "constellation" as an example.

constellation

a

silent

lion

tells

an

ancient

tale

Now, wherever I walk or run, whenever I have some free moments, I am thinking of single-word poems. Many words seems like they will work well (perhaps just because they are about something I like), but then I get stuck with the word possibilities. Blueberries. Autumn. Photograph. None worked as I had hoped. Sitting at my table tonight, I composed this:

tablecloth

clothe

the

table

to

eat

Start thinking. It is truly engaging for the mind! Kids will love this.