Ann Whitford Paul - Owl

OWL
by
Ann Whitford Paul

Who-oo, Who-oo.
Owl takes off,
whispering long,
low, hooting vowels.
Who-oo, Who-oo!
down they float,
soft as feathers,
but Mouse and Mole
are not fooled.
They hide, knowing
behind Owl's vowels lurks
the hard consonant crack
of his hooked beak.

©2009 Ann Whitford Paul. All rights reserved.

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Ann Whitford Paul can write soft and lyrical or sharp and strong or, well, anything she wants, I suspect. The range of feelings and images created in just the 40 words of Owl knocks my socks off. We're all lucky that Ann has three books out this Spring, and they further show her range: Tortuga in Trouble (illustrated by Ethan Long) is a Little Red Riding Hood riff (with Spanish, too), Word Builder (illustrated by Kurt Cyrus) began life as a poem in a Lee Bennett Hopkins anthology and is now a picture book all about "building" a book, and Writing Picture Books allows everyone to sample her remarkable teaching abilities.

Now, if you have not been checking out the Poetry Makers series at the Miss Rumphius Effect, you've been missing great, great stuff... including a wonderful interview (and more!) with Ann Whitford Paul. It's really worth a read... as is any Ann Whitford Paul poem you can get your hands on!

X.J. Kennedy's Ladder to the Moon was yesterday's treat. Tomorrow brings us Jaime Adoff and Rock n Roll Dad.