Poetry

Smart
By Shel Silverstein

My dad gave me one dollar bill
'Cause I'm his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'Cause two is more than one!
And then I took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes -- I guess he didn't know
That three is more than two!
Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just 'cause he can't see
He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,
And four is more than three!
And then I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!
And then I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head --
Too proud of me to speak!







My Mistress’ Eyes/Sonnet 130
By William Shakespeare
1 My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
2 Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
3 If snow be white, why then her chest is dun;
4 If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
5 I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
6 But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
7 And in some perfumes is there more delight
8 Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
9 I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
10 That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
11 I grant I never saw a goddess go;
12 My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
13 And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
14 As any she belied with false compare.





Haikus

Haiku poetry has a simple format. There are 3 lines. The first line has 5 syllables. The second line has 7 syllables, and the last line has 5 syllables. They are typically about seasons or nature. They also traditionally portray two contrasting ideas (dark/light, winter/summer, noise/silence, good/evil). It is possible for one complete sentence to be in 2 lines of a Haiku. It is also possible for there to be 2 sentences in one line of Haiku.
Examples:

An old silent pond…
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.

A cricket disturbed
the sleeping child; on the porch.
A man smoked and smiled.