The Best Concert Ever -- a music poem/an orchestra poem/a poem about instruments

THE BEST CONCERT EVER
by
Gregory K.

A violin told knock-knock jokes.
A trumpet made a pun.
A French horn told some riddles that were really goofy fun.

The timpani and xylophone
Made lots of silly faces.
A tuba and a piccolo decided to switch places.

A double bass got lots of laughs
By standing upside down.
Every last viola had been dressed up like a clown.

The instruments played forte soft.
They played piano loud.
The woodwinds all threw whipped cream pies directly at the crowd.

I haven’t laughed this heartily
Since I can’t tell you when.
I sure can’t wait ‘til I can hear this Symfunny again.


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Elaine is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup today over at the Wild Rose Reader. Go on over and check it out.

And I'll see you back here on Monday when I stop teasing and finally say what's going to be happening at GottaBook during April for National Poetry Month. Did I mention I'm excited? Good. Because that's the truth!

Retro RIF!

I just had a wonderful flashback, thanks to the Reading is Fundamental website. In a wonderful section of the site called Retro RIF, they've collected some of their old commercials. There are two I remember as if I just saw them yesterday (which I didn't)! Good stuff. Good site in general, by the way, and highly recommended for a visit....

You gotta like that!

I'm happy to see a good New York Times review of Douglas Florian's just out Dinothesaurus (read a bit of the review over at The Florian Cafe). If you've been reading his blog, you've seen some excerpts of the book. I've loved them all, personally, and have a copy of the book waiting at a nearby bookstore... which I look forward to getting, if I ever leave my desk chair.

And I look forward to April here at GottaBook where Douglas Florian might very well be a part of my oft-teased Poetry Month celebration. Look for an announcement on the 23rd to know for sure....

It's Pi Day!

Yes, today is 3.14 aka Pi Day.

A day like this appeals to my admittedly geeky heart. Plus I use it as an excuse to eat pie! And since it's annual, it's easier to celebrate than waiting for 1-12-35 or 11-23-58 to come around to celebrate Fib day... though Fib Time is a whole different story....

I want to point out that I attempted to put up this post on 3.14 at 1:59 but was not on top of things enough to do so. Pi Day doesn't not change the natural order of things, apparently!

I can't help it! I'm a tease.

Yes, call this another poetry tease, but I am incredibly excited about what's going to be happening here at GottaBook for National Poetry Month this year. I'll be announcing it here on the blog on March 23rd, but in the meantime here's what I'll say since I can't contain myself:

There will be new poetry here every day of the month, just like the last three years. HOWEVER... this year, it's not just my poetry. Nope. Definitely not. And who's joining me? Well, I'm still not saying, but I'm telling you, it's gonna be a monthlong party. I hope you'll all come join in.

For less of a tease, go on over to the Miss Rumphius Effect for today's Poetry Friday roundup.

A hippo in the classroom!

Well, not exactly. Instead, what about poet Kenn Nesbitt in your classroom, virtually? In celebration of the release of his new book My Hippo Has the Hiccups, Kenn is offering up a free 30 minute web-based visit for any group that purchases 10 or more copies of his book. I did the math. That's a deal, indeed.

I want to add, by the way, that Kenn Nesbitt is actually one of the main reasons I blog. When I first knew I was gonna have an "online presence," I started thinking about what I might want to do. I thought of building a website with my poetry and links and information and... well, Kenn's already done that at Poetry4Kids, and I wasn't gonna be able to do it as well, let alone better. There is a soooo much funny stuff on his site AND so much great information, too. So, I sulked for awhile then eventually started blogging instead. And I'm glad I did, of course! But sometimes I have site envy :-)

Anyway, I really think you should check out Kenn's offer and book and site. And, as a further tease to a prior tease... I should mention that Kenn Nesbitt will be part of the (I think very) exciting April here at GottaBook. Ooooooh. How? Why? When? Patience. Patience. No get thee hence.

Run, run, run....

While this blog rarely, if ever, delves into the details of my life, you can actually tell when I'm busy -- I miss Poetry Friday! Luckily, I can still post a link to the roundup over at Anastasia's blog (or rather, ONE of her blogs) even though it's now Saturday.

The busy-ness will only keep me quiet a few more days, here, but part of what's taken up some time is working on this April's poetry extravaganza here at GottaBook. It requires left and right brain action, so those of you who know me (or who've seen my desk) know that this presents challenges. But it's all good. And the end result in this case is something I'm realllllllllly excited about, too.

So, as they say, "don't go away. We'll be right back!"

The top 100 picture books -- a poll!

Over at Fuse #8, Betsy is putting together a list... with everyone's help, that is.

Here's her post explaining the poll on the Top 100 Picture Books. Each of us gets to list our top 10 and send it in to her. Only ten?? This should be fun and challenging both, and the results should be fantastic. I can already see cabals forming to try and gather votes for favorites. Deals made in smoky back rooms. Yes, this should be good.

No go on and check it out so you can jump on in....

Happy Dr. Seuss's Birthday to You!

If you were to ask the kids at the school where I'm the volunteer librarian who my favorite author of children's book is, I'm pretty sure every one of them would say Dr. Seuss. What can I say other than "true!" Hey, don't get me wrong -- I don't argue that every one of his books is perfection or anything like that. But holy smokes, the combo of artistic fun and verbal play is so extraordinary. Yah, I know, I'm not the first so say so. :-)

Anyway, loving him as I do, I also realized that I've done Oddaptations of 10 of his books. You can see the whole Oddaptation collection right here (or click individually on the links on the right hand side of my blog AND, in doing so, see an explanation of what Oddaptations are!). I write 'em from love, I tell you.

So Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss. And thanks!

Reasons Why I Don't Write -- a procrastination poem/a writing poem

This is actually a repost of the very first poem I blogged, just over three years ago. It was (and is!) aimed more at my writer friends, as that pretty much was my entire audience back then (all 11 visitors that day, I believe!), but it still seems accurate to me....


REASONS WHY I DON’T WRITE
by
Gregory K.

Errands
Cooking
Cleaning up

Nothing
In my
Coffee cup

Snail mail
E-mail
Blogging, too

Crosswords
Comics
Sudoku

Phone calls
Lunches
Fear of debt

Daydreams
Nap times
Internet

Laundry
Sunsets
Batting cage

“Research”
iTunes
Empty page



The Poetry Friday roundup is at Mommy's Favorite Children's Books today. Go on over and check it out!

And if you want to get all my new poems (and only the poems) emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

The Carnival's back! And...

Yes, the February Carnival of Children's Literature is up for your perusal (hosted by Lynn Hazen at her Imaginary Blog which is, of course, a real blog. Whoa! I better have more coffee and think about that...).

And... did I mention that I'm really looking forward to National Poetry Month here at GottaBook this year? I did? Well, I'm saying it again, tease that I am. But I'll make good. I promise.

My blog is mad at me!

I missed my blogoversary. It was Saturday, and GottaBook celebrated its third anniversary. Are there appropriate gifts like there are for people's wedding anniversaries? "Third blogoversary gift is a new template". Anyway, happy belated. I'd note that today is exactly three years since the first poem I posted (which I will do as a re-issue this poetry Friday to celebrate).

My blog and I are actually quite excited these days. You see, it's almost April and National Poetry Month. This year, we're gonna be doing something new here... and I'm incredibly excited. What is it? I'm a tease. You'll know soon enough, but as always, you'll all be a part of it.

Thanks for three great years....

What a character!

OK, that could refer to many people I know, but in this case it was a broader comment. It's a rare thing here at GottaBook, I know, but I wanted to shoot of a link about, gasp, craft!

At the SCBWI Westside Schmooze (which I used to co-coordinate for years but is now in the stupendously-way-beyond-competent hands of Rita and Lee), we recently had a night all about character. It was faboo. And now there's a great blog post up all about what was shared that night.

It's good stuff, I tell ya.

The Cybils!

The winners of the 2009 Cybil awards are up over the Cybils site. Go on over and check out the fabulous blogger-picked goodies.

My Febluaries -- a February poem/a blues poem

MY FEBLUARIES
by
Gregory K.

I’m gloomy, gray.
Don’t want to play.
My Febluaries are bad today.

Outdoors, inside --
No place to hide:
These blues I’ve got won’t be denied.

I’ll give a cheer
When March is here
And February’s gone this year.

But ‘til that day
I’m sad to say
My Febluaries are here to stay.


The Poetry Friday links are collected over here at Big A little a today. Why not go check them out?

And if you want to get all my new poems (and only the poems) emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

One of those poetic internet mysteries...

For the last week or so, folks have been coming to my blog after searching the net for me and a specific poem I blogged here -- I Lost My Voice. While it's not unusual for me to see folks searching for a specific poem/stanza/turn of phrase (often, I'm convinced it's teachers checking to see if homework turned in was original work or not!), this is different, as it is people clearly searching with my name as well.

So the mystery is... where did this poem appear (obviously credited to me), and why are people coming this way? It's all good, certainly. But I'm curious, I tell ya, and since it's people from all across the U.S. it wasn't just a local thang... which makes it that much more intriguing.

OK, fine. Maybe this isn't a mystery anyone but me wants solved, but if you happen to know the answer, I'd sure love to hear it! So would my mom. So just know you disappoint her if you keep it to yourself :-)

It's everywhere!

Ya just never know where the Fibonacci sequence will pop up and surprise ya. OK, maybe "surprise" isn't exactly right... but how many folks expect to see it in the Sunday comics?

Foxtrot -- 2/8/09

And funny, too, at least to this geeky fellow....

That Friday thang...

Well, I had fully planned to get a post up for Poetry Friday and be in this week's lovely collection of links (gathered by the Wild Rose Reader herself!), but that's surely not how the day turned out. Although at least now I'm linking in....

Next week, an original, I tell ya.

Math. Poetry. And an article...

Yesterday, there was a lovely article by Shirley Dent in the Guardian's Book Blog all about the relationship between math and poetry. I'd tell ya to check it out no matter what, but since it happens to talk of Fibs (and me!), I doubly tell ya!

I'm just saying....

...it's not always a bad thing to live in LA. After hearing Just One More Book's great interview with Neil Gaiman last week, I got a second dose of Gaiman-ness, if such is a word, this week: an invite to a Coraline screening this weekend. Oooooh. I said yes, of course. I shall report back, but thought I'd made at least a few of you a tad jealous beforehand. I know... give, give, give, that's all I do!