If someone asked you to define poetry,
what would you say?
I think I’d say:
“A poem is when words and space play together to create something magical.”
Also, have you ever owned a fish?
I had a beta fish in college, called Urban,
that I loved.
How he survived living in a near freezing basement for 6 months I’ll never know.
He was a cool dude and my kind of pet: VERY low maintenance.
Anywho,
short story today.
here’s the book:
Title: This is a Poem that Heals Fish
Published by: Enchanted Lion Books, 2007
Written by: Jean-Pierre Siméon
Illustrated by: Oliver Tallec
Translated by: Claudia Zoe Bedrick
Word Count: 560
Pages: 48
In one word: Poetic
In one sentence: Arthur is on the hunt to find a poem to heal his fish Leon, but no one has one…they only tell him what a poem is!
Favorite pages:
Likes:
I love the illustrations that go with the definitions of a poem that people give him. They are poetry illustrated: whimsical, just enough, and make you want to look at them again and again.
The text is sparse and magical feeling too.
I also like that it almost doesn’t feel like a story to me when I read it. It feels more like a moment, a discovery, a revelation that will change Arthur and his fish forever. And that’s sort of what poetry is too, isn’t it?
I really like the different characters he goes to as well.
It was very hard for me to come up with one definition of poetry, let alone as many as are in this book, so kudos to the author for doing all that!
Learns:
Defining things helps. Sometimes if I’m stuck on something, I’ll go to the dictionary. I’ve had many story ideas start there!
Collect wisdom from people around you.
Write about a moment or a discovery. Not every story has to be funny and short and fast and in your face. There are room for quiet stories about a boy and his pet. Maybe not a lot of room, but there’s room.
What did you read today?
See ya tomorrow!
KE
