Poetry Friday is hosted today by Jama's Alphabet Soup.
For Poetry Friday -- "The world's greatest poems" written by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by
Keith Graves.
This
is not what you think -- there's no pedantic analysis, best of the 20th (or any
other) century's verses or top ten poets anthology here.
Lewis
has done the delightfully unexpected by offering readers twenty-five poems
inspired by The Guinness Book of World Records.
What could be a better antidote for the verse-phobic reader than works
based on the wonderfully whacky, strange or amazing records for which Guinness
is famous. The Kookiest Hat leads off a
collection that includes The Most Cobras Kissed Consecutively, and concludes
with The Highest Air On A Skateboard.
Lewis thoughtfully includes the details from the Guinness account along
with the verses.
Is "Rush Hour" a problem for your commute? Consider this --
Graphic
Traffic
Crawling
Stalling
Fender
Bender
Bumper
Thumper.
Temper,
Temper!
Thus
begins Lewis' poem "The Longest Traffic Jam" (FYI 1093 miles long, Lyon toward
Paris, France, February 16, 1980).
Graves'
artwork takes a playful cue from Lewis' words while also reflecting a sense of
the Guinness details behind the verse.
With
a record book in hand, students might even be persuaded to write their own
poetry.
1 comment:
This is such a fun collection -- leave it to Pat to continually surprise, delight, and delve into the unexpected. I've always found these world's record facts to be so fascinating.
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