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In honor of Poetry Month, Easter, Passover,
and all things rabbity, my free-verse picture book,
To Rabbittown, originally published by Scholastic,

is 99 cents on iTunes, Kindle, Nook–yippee!

Download the free Kindle for PC 
if you don’t have an eReader.
.

for more children’s poetry links go to
this delicious blog:
Jama’s Alphabet Soup

Wait...what do you mean it needs some editing?????

No, I disagree...I really think the words, "severed head" work in this poem.

Yeah, well, thanks for your suggestions. Let me think about them; NO.

I do believe I'm entitled to a nap after an exhausting session ripping my poem apart..

This is Eli. Pronounced eeee-lye.

Hi there!  Welcome to RuffDrafts.com–I’m glad you’re here!

My original poems, posted each day of National Poetry Month 2013, are imperfect. Messy.  This is your chance to sneak a peek behind the scenes—before a poem is polished and published! (For my poems in 2010, 2011 & 2012, click on the Poetry link in the menu above.)

My friend Bruce Balan and I critique each other’s poems every day…so you’ll see Bruce’s comments on some of the poems.

Thanks for following so well.  I’m tempted to take you to the dog park and let you romp off-leash… Ready?  Let’s begin!

 

April 2

MORNING DOG


 

MORNING DOG ~ rough draft!
by April Halprin Wayland

In the morning
I shake my new collar sharply
and look up to see if the mound moves.

If it has,
if it has not,
either way

I wander to the bedside
sniff, sniff, sniff
working my nose under the blanket.

Asking.

If she lifts the blanket
I’m good.
It’s morning.

Otherwise
it must not be
and I wander back to my post and lie down.

If she lifts the blanket
she’ll also open her mouth at me
breathing out.

Oh,
what a good and glorious gift!
Morning breath.

Are you awake yet?

This one’s a Mask poem, which means that it’s from the point of view of an animal or inanimate object.

Bruce comments:

“Not bad. I liked it.  Alene thought it was a bit gross at the end.  I liked it.”

I wish it was shorter.  How I admire those who can be concise, like my niece,
Julia Halprin Jackson
who writes entire stories in 100 words!

poem © 2013 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved

One Response to “MORNING DOG”

  1. I love the ending to this one, April! Now you have me wanting to try a mask poem myself. I don’t think I’ve done one before.

    Love that last picture too!

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