Alan Katz - Ch-ch-ch-check, Please

Ch-ch-ch-check, Please
by
Alan Katz

I only eat foods that begin with “c-h,”
like chicken and churros and chili.
If you're cooking dinner and there's no “c-h,”
then trying to feed me is silly.

Today I had chocolate and chickpeas and chips,
chimichangas and chow mein and cheese.
Tonight, chunky chowder is the only choice--
(Mom is out of “c-h” recipes).

She ordered a cookbook that's coming tomorrow;
Mom promised great foods she'll be makin'.
It will be a menu of new “c-h” treats--
like chmeatloaf!! Chomelets! Chbacon!

(from a collection to be published by McElderry Books in 2011 (and to be illustrated by Ed Koren))

© Alan Katz. All rights reserved.

---

Alan Katz knows funny. Yes, he also knows silly (as his labeled likeness by his frequent illustrator-collaborator David Catrow proves), but if you're one who gives "silly" a bad rap, I've chosen to play the "funny" card. Cuz he is. His "silly dilly" books of songs, like Take Me Out of the Bathtub, have created mirth for years, and if you're lucky enough to hear/see him perform some of these songs, I challenge you not to laugh. Yeah, even if you're in a room of adults as I was. In a room of kids? There's no chance of silence.

What I find in his books, including his poetry collection Oops, is an infectious spirit of joy. When I heard him at an SCBWI conference, I experienced that same joy when he generously gave advice and talked about writing, his family, encouraging kids to laugh and write - any and all types of poetry, by the way - and, well, everything. For all those reasons (and did I mention he's funny?) that's why I'm so happy to have Alan Katz here as part of 30 Poets/30 Days.

This week's Poetry Friday roundup is over at the always-worth-a-read Paper Tigers blog. Why not go check it out?

Yesterday we had Weeds from Ralph Fletcher. Tomorrow... Dancing Fingers from Carmen Bernier-Grand! For more on 30 Poets/30 Days and ways to follow along, please click here.