ON THE WING by David Elliott

Hello and happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Mr. Hankins a.k.a. Paul at These 4 Corners (Living Loving Laughing Learning --- how much do I love that?!) for Roundup.

What a week this has been! So many things going on this month -- youngest sons multitude of Christmas concerts, preparations for our trip to NYC, Christmas-y outings with friends and shopping and last-minute gifts and writing, always always writing.

Today I am taking a break from all that for just a minute to share with you a lovely book ON THE WING by David Elliott, illus. by Becca Stadlander. It's contains short vivid poems about birds! So, bird lovers will love it, and people who aren't bird lovers will BECOME bird lovers. :) I don't think poets will ever NOT be inspired by birds, and rightly so! I'd like to share three of these poems with you today:

The Hummingbird
by David Elliott

     Backward!
Forward!

     Here
then
     there!

Always
        in a
tizzy!

Got
     mo
time
     to
sit
     or
sing!

     Too
busy!
     Busy!
Busy!

(This one is on a two-page spread, and the stanzas flit across, just like hummingbirds. Beautiful!)

The Oriole and the Woodpecker
by David Elliott

Music lovers fast await
the first duet
of summer.
Oriole is vocalist.
Woodpecker is drummer.

(Isn't that perfect?! Of course I love the whole "duet" metaphor what with all the music in my life these days.)

The Macaw
by David Elliott

Who
spilled
the
paint?

(If that doesn't make you smile, you are in dire need of a day off... and more poetry. :)

I'm sitting here wondering which is my favorite bird... ever since SUMMER OF THE SWANS, I have loved swans. I fell in love with the African tanager a few years ago... and every time the cardinals nest outside my kitchen window, they are totally my favorites. :) What about you? Any birds that hold particular appeal for you??