Animal Origins

This week in Poetry, the young writers at Bell Elementary read The Tyger by William Blake. We discussed how Blake is asking the Tyger where he comes from, who made him, and where he took the different parts of himself from. I asked the students to choose their own animals, and describe them using this questioning method. Below, a sample of their amazing poems (including one of my favorites so far HUMAN).

Mrs. Fukawa’s Class
The Lamb
by Amelia G.

Lamb, lamb, shining white
why does your fleece shine
so brght? Did you borrow
your fleece from sister Ivory?
Did you ask your cousin
Mountain to fetch you
the snow from on top of a mountain?
Did you steal all the gentleness
from the Tasmanian Devil,
making him mean?
Lamb, lamb, shining white.

Wolves, What are You?
by Liam C.-K.

Wolf, where did you get your spiky ears?
Did you borrow them from a spiky thorn bush?

And wolf, those yellow eyes must be fake.
Did you cut out a piece of the evening moon
and give it to your eyes?

Wolf, where did you get your fluffy, shaggy fur?
It looks like you jumped on a cloud
and smothered yourself in it.

Wolf, your sharp set of teeth
look like a set of steak knives.

Wolf
by Brittany C.

Wolf, where do you get your
meat from, a meat store or
a farm? And where did you
get your creepy eyes from?
Where did you get your
soft smooth tail from? Why
did you kill a bunch of animals?

Oh! Wolf, why do you hunt
in packs? And why do you fight
over food? Do you move around
a lot? And can you hear well?


Ms. Chadhuri’s Class
The Funky Monkey
by Caleb P.

Monkey, why are you
so funky, moving fastly
from vine to tree? Do you
even stop to see?
What is your main
desire, maybe to
keep climbing higher?
Do you even like a liar,
or do you like to play with fire?
Are you listening, or are you
just too tired? Monkey, you
are the animal I most admire.
If only I knew your main desire…
The main desire of the
very, very funky monkey.

Chick in an Egg
by Ryan R.

Chick, did you get a beak because a worm bit you?
Did you get your chirp from a squeaker?
Are your yellow feathers from the sun?
Do your orange legs come from orange paint?
Do your eyes come from berries?

Human
by Emilio A.

Human, your intelligence amazes me.
Did you rob a library to get it?

Human, your weapons are deadly.
Did you steal them from the Tyger?

Human, did you ever get insulted
because you haven’t learned how
to speak telepathically?

Human, did you ever feel bad that you
have doomed the world with CO2?


Ms. Furgason’s Class
The Whale
by Max D.

Whale, why are you so big?
Do you wish you were as small as a katydid?

Whale, are you shy?
Do you dive deeper as a boat goes by?

Whale, why do you have so much blubber?
Do you like it that you’re not made of rubber?

Whale, are you nice?
Or do you make whaling humans pay the price?

Whale, good bye, I’ll see you soon,
but long after it turns noon.

The Ladybug
by Kayla M.

Ladybug, did you steal your spots
from a person who has freckles?

Ladybug, did you get your soft
skin by stealing lotion like a thief?

Ladybug, did you get your
wings from a bird?

Ladybug, did you get
so tiny by a shrinking machine?
Ladybug, are you shy
like my baby brother
because you are shy
of how you look?

Squid
by Brian S.

Squid, did you steal your
tentacles from an octopus?

Squid are you shy because
a crab poked you in the eye?

Squid did you steal your ink
from a pen?

Squid did you used to be
an arrow head in the wars of Atlantis?

Squid did you fall from
the sky and land in the ocean from Mars?


Ms. Manuel
The Octopus
by Magdelene T.

Can you write with the ink
that you shoot out?

With the eight arms, can you
do all your chores at the same time?

Have you ever walked
or tap danced?

Is it easy for you to play
hide and seek?

The Panda
by Caleb A.

Panda, did you steal
your black from the dark
and the white from the light?

Did you steal your tail from
a bunny in need?

Did you steal your
hands and feet
from a black bear?

Did you steal your
ears from an ugly
leprachaun?

Did you steal your
head from a
Koala Bear?

The Camel
by Samantha F.

Camel how did you get your hump?
Did you steal it from a little girl
when she brought two big beach
balls to the beach? How is your
fur so warm and fuzzy? Did
you steal it form a horse?
Why are your eyes so small?
Do you have keen eyesight?
How did you get your tail?
Did you get it from a donkey?
Why are your hoofs so
hard? Did you steal a hockey
puck from a hockey player?