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November 17, 2006
Absolutely Gastronomical: Poetry Friday
Absolutely Gastronomical
Alligator is our waiter.
First customer he had
He ate her!
He said he loved her
Did not hate her
But that was then
Now this is later.
He said he’d never
Eat another.
Crossed his heart
And promised
Mother.
Declared: “From now
And here on in
I’ll be a
Vegetarian.”
-from If I Had a Million Onions by Sheree Fitch, illustrated by Yayo
This goes great with John Ciardi’s “About the Teeth of Sharks” if you’re trying to hook the right kind of kid (i.e. Lucas) on poetry. (If you all don’t start reading John Ciardi, it’s not going to be for my lack of effort.)
Fitch’s poems range here from funny to serious. Some are straight-forward, some concrete, and some rely on spoonerisms. A good spoonerism is fine every now and again, but, as far as I’m concerned, one Runny Babbit a day is plenty. Pages of them just aren’t to my taste, and I think Fitch relies too much on them in this collection. That said, “Absolutely Gastronomical” is so good that it pretty much justifies buying the collection. I also love Yayo’s illustrations (remember him from Keeper of Soles?), which are simple and playful, even if there is a character who looks suspiciously like a clown on the cover. The dolphin emerging from an onion more than makes up for the possible clown....
[Get the Poetry Friday roundup over at Chicken Spaghetti.]
Posted by adrienne at November 17, 2006 04:16 PM