Have you ever tried to write a poem about a pizza? How about a pig? How about a pigeon, penguin, potato, Ping-Pong, parrot, puppy, pelican, porcupine, pie, pachyderm, or your parents?

Jack Prelutsky has written more than one thousand poems about all of these things—and many others. In this book he gives you the inside scoop on writing poetry and shows you how you can turn your own experiences and stories about your

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This book shows young readers how to create concrete poems in which the text creates a shape that mimics its subject. Tips help readers choose workable topics, arrange words on the page, and make the most of white space.

"Varamo concerns a day in the life of a hapless government employee. After being paid by the ministry in counterfeit money, our unfortunate bureaucrat, Varamo, wanders around all night, then sits down and writes the most celebrated masterwork of modern Central American poetry, The Song of the Virgin Boy. What is odd is that Varamo, at fifty years old, 'hadn't previously written one sole verse, nor had it ever occurred to him to write one.'"--P. [4]...

Line poetry includes a number of forms that rely on parallel structure, repetition, and line breaks. This book gives readers useful instructions for writing a variety of list poems, including acrostics, bio poems, and riddle poems.

The author provides poemstarts (opening lines, suggestions and rhyming words) and invites you to finish the poem as you please. You too can become a poet.

Illustrations and simple text teach young children why they need to write and how they can find topics to write about.