Poke That Pea!

Poke that pea.
Don’t stop at one.
Spear a pair.
Peas are fun.
Stab two more.
Fill the tips. 
Four green corks
Guard your lips.
Keep on jabbing.
Pack the tines.
String more beads.
Cram the lines. 
When your fork is
Fully loaded,
When your steel is
Fully coated,
Pull the spines
Between your teeth.
Slip the blade
From its sheath.
Like Ali Baba
And the Forty Thieves,
Swipe the silver and
Finish the peas!
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Rainy Day Dream

Image from www.therealblairfamily.com

I watch raindrops run
down the window glass passing
all the defenders.

© 2012 Elizabeth Ehrenfest Steinglass, all rights reserved

I love watching raindrops run down window glass. Sometimes it reminds me of soccer players running down the field. Other days it makes me think of other things. What does it make you think of?

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Hear Me?

My voice fades in waves invisible
To me. I cannot see if they slip
Down the funnels into your head
Or chase the edge of the universe. 

© 2012 Elizabeth Ehrenfest Steinglass, all rights reserved

Michel Martin on NPR’s Tell Me More is celebrating National Poetry Month with tweet-able poems of 140 characters or less. I had never tweeted before, but I gave it a try. Tweeting made me wonder where my poem went and inspired this tweet-able poem. Do tweeting and/or blogging make you feel more heard? Or less?

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Revealing

No scars, pimples, freckles, fat.
Perfection on glossy paper.
She dissolves in tears, revealing

The advertisement behind her.

© 2012 Elizabeth Ehrenfest Steinglass, all rights reserved

Michel Martin on NPR’s Tell Me More is celebrating National Poetry Month with tweet-able poems of 140 characters or less. I haven’t tweeted (so far) but my ears perked up at the mention of a new form. I had to give it a try. Also, I have an eleven year-old daughter and lately there’s been a lot of discussion among the moms about body image. I haven’t actually heard anything from the girls yet, but I remember being a girl and spending hours looking at the glossy magazines in the library.

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Chippy Chap

Red Squirrel by Eric Begin
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericbegin/3506296898

I met a squirrel—
A chippy chap.
He wore his tail
Like a baseball cap.
When I threw
A nut his way
He hit it home
And ran away.
© 2012 Elizabeth Ehrenfest Steinglass, all rights reserved

One day when I was out walking I saw a squirrel with his tail curled over his head like a cap. He seemed to be saying, “Like my hat?” This poem is for him. Or her. What funny things did you see today?

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Sleeping Likes

I have a cat. Her name is Kate.
She likes to sleep in an old pie plate.
Kate’s best friend is our dog Clair.
She likes to sleep with her feet in the air.
When I sleep, I like to lie in bed
With a nice, soft pillow beneath my head.

© 2012 Elizabeth Ehrenfest Steinglass, all rights reserved

We’re back from our vacation in London where I kept mumbling the old song about London Bridge. Maybe that’s what got me wanting to write something for a younger audience. Back at home I spent the morning reading old Baby Bug magazines. Poems for preschoolers are so simple and fun and so much about sound, which is what makes them so hard to write.

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