A POEM FOR JULIA.

April 14, 2003 by 5 Comments

The Duck

Behold the duck.
It does not cluck.
A cluck it lacks.
It quacks.
It is specially fond
Of a puddle or pond.
When it dines or sups,
It bottoms ups.

–Ogden Nash

Comments

  1. M o I r A says
    April 14, 2003 at 10:12 pm

    Wow, that’s so cute….but….a seven-year-old imitating William Carlos Williams? Maybe her mom read it to her or something….

  2. language hat says
    April 15, 2003 at 8:26 am

    Her dad’s a poet, so I expect she gets exposed to it pretty regularly.

  3. Jeremy Osner says
    April 15, 2003 at 11:01 am

    Very nice. Another good one (though it was addressed to a younger one than she):
    Once you were two,
    Dear birthday friend,
    In spite of purple weather.
    And now you are three…
    And ‘twas toward the end,
    That we grewsome together.
    How forthful thou,
    For soon I know
    That you will be much more.
    But ‘fore you can be three, be two.
    Before be five…be four!
    ~Walt Kelly
    Thanks for the link to Julia’s page, it is a good one to hold on to.

  4. Jonathan Mayhew says
    April 15, 2003 at 6:44 pm

    Julia’s dad here. I taught poetry to Julia’s 2nd grade class last month. I used ideas from Kenneth Koch’s “Rose, Where Did You Get That Red” and “Wishes, Lies, and Dreams.” I like his approach of using adult models rather than just cutesy light verse written for children. (The Ogden Nash is a good one though.) You might now Koch’s poem “Variations on a theme by William Carlos Williams.”

  5. language hat says
    April 15, 2003 at 6:57 pm

    I love Kenneth Koch; “Fresh Air” makes me laugh helplessly every time. As it happens, I didn’t find the Nash in any kiddie book (I don’t own such) but in The Rattle Bag, one of my favorite anthologies (not least for its alphabetical arrangement, favoring random discoveries). I liked it a lot and thought Julia might too. (I hope she doesn’t mind my linking to her; I figure bloggers always appreciate links!)

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