My Method For Tying Shoes - a poem

My Method For Tying Shoes
by
Greg Pincus

Keep your "Bunny Ears" and "loop-de-loops" -
I'll tie shoes with the method I've got.
Oh, sure, it's a mess
Yet there's often success...
So I call it the "Probably Knot."

It's Poetry Friday, and the roundup is at the fantabulous Teaching Authors site. 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!

Me!! Poetry!! And A Great Project...

My friend Brad has a Kickstarter project called Read Me a Story that only has 4 days left to reach its goal. I think it's a cool project in a very Reading Rainbow kinda way. We need projects like this. Truly.

I was so excited, I jumped at the chance to film some interstitial thangs for him of me performing a bunch of my poems. Here's a sample Brad whipped together of me and my poem, Today is Not Tomorrow....




I hope you'll go check his project out!

ALA Awards... and a #kidlitchat plug!

The ALA Awards are coming tomorrow morning (or, for a lot of you, have already happened by the time you'll read this). I'm wondering who gets that early morning Newbery call... who will win the Caldecott, the Belpre, the King, and so many more.

It's always an exciting day in our world, but we don't think the fun should end tomorrow. No! So this week's #kidlitchat - held each Tuesday night on Twitter at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific - will be all about the award winners. Come join us in conversation and celebration!

Careerhymes, you say? (With a Dentist Poem!)

Over on David L. Harrison's blog, J. Patrick Lewis stopped by to introduce a poetic form he calls the Careerhyme. Basically... four lines (in two rhyming couplets), a career name to start it and a definition of the career to follow. And they're meant to be "light verse"... so you know I gave it a whirl.

Dentist: cleaner of the gums;
Remover of stuck seeds and crumbs.
Years of school are on this track...
Yet no diploma! Just some plaque.

You gotta head over to David's blog, though, where you can read Pat and David's examples (oh, and Jane Yolen and Laura Purdie Salas and so many more fine folks stopped by, too). I left two others besides the above in the comments, too.

Got a careerhyme? Join the fun and share away!

Cybils Finalists, 2012!

The 2012 Cybils finalists are up!

As always, these are great lists of books in a slew of categories. And apps, too.

I was a poetry category finalist judge a few times, so I always look most closely at that category's gems... and then offer up my thanks that I don't have to pick just one from the list!

January 2nd Speaks - a non-holiday poem

January 2nd Speaks
by
Greg Pincus

Yesterday came and folks burst into song,
Yet nobody's cheering when I come along.
I don't get confetti. I get no parade.
A movie about me has never been made.
I've tried bringing sun, bringing snow, bringing rain.
It just doesn't matter: I don't rate champagne.
In some ways I'm lucky - at least I'm a date...
But always the second's a frustrating fate.

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!

A Prompt Resolution - a resolution poem/a procrastination poem

A Prompt Resolution
by
Greg Pincus

I have a bad trait - I procrastinate.
Last year it was the worst:
The very first date that my work wasn't late
Was March the thirty-first.

I think the solution's a resolution,
So hear these words I speak:
"Elimination of procrastination
Starts soon! Perhaps next week!"

May you stick to all your resolutions... and may 2013 be filled with good health and happiness galore!

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: