Poetry Friday: Animal Poems

I picked up this book of animal poems from the new books shelf at the library. Flipping through it as my two daughters buckled up in the back seat, I came upon a hamster poem. “Aww,” I exclaimed, holding up the book so they could see the picture. “Look at this!”

Over my arm
she softly flows —
cinnamon coat
and whiskery nose.

With marble eyes
she stops and peeks;
lets me stroke
her knapsack cheeks…

“Awwww!!” came the stereophonic echo from the back seat, followed by hands reaching expectantly for the book. All the way home I heard delighted chuckles and fragments of poetry: white-throated sparrows “with no necks,” huddled in the cold… A beaver in November, muttering incessantly, “Mud, more mud, add mud, good mud…” A pigeon, pleading for the traffic to hush so her newborn can sleep: “Please city have some pity…” The poems are by a variety of authors, and they are splashed against arresting, colorful photographs of the featured animals. There is an impressive mix of creatures ranging from homely to exotic, and the (mostly short) poems are similarly wide-ranging in their forms. The book concludes with a two-page spread on writing poems about animals, followed by a list of resources.

Surely a book that fills my car with poetry in young, delighted voices is a success. Surely the way the girls come running whenever I crack open the book is further proof. I’ve brought home poetry books before, but this one hits on the recipe for delight in my house. For a family of nature lovers, it celebrates the ordinary, rendering the familiar inhabitants of our back yard with fitting eloquence. It reminds us of others out there who admire and empathize with the creatures who have no words. And it gives us a glimpse of all we’ve yet to lay eyes on in the big book of nature.

Always, we return to “Hamster Hide and Seek,” by Avis Harley. It concludes this way,

Then ripple-of-fur
takes her leave
to probe new roads
inside my sleeve.

The girls have had four hamsters in all. Each one lived about a year, each had its own distinct personality, and each was loved. So this poetic portrait, along with its stunning accompanying photo, always brings a smile and a bittersweet memory.

I’m linking up (a little late) with the Poetry Friday roundup at A Teaching Life. Click over to see what poems others are sharing today.