A Chocolate Poem for Halloween

Since National Chocolate Day is coming up this weekend (October 28) and Halloween is right around the corner, I thought it might be fun to feature some yummy chocolate poems. I’m honored to share an original poem by one of my favorites, J. Patrick Lewis:

Chocolate-Covered Ants
by J. Patrick Lewis
Used with permission

You start with that ant mandible—
Completely understandable—
A chocolate jaw has never tasted sweeter.

Then bite of bit of abdomen
Before you’ve finally grabbed a min-
i-leg, an itty-bitty centimeter.

But ants despise the holiday
That is their grand finale day
When you become The Chocolate Anteater.

For more chocolate poems, look for:
Arnold Adoff’s Chocolate Dreams (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1988) and Eats (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1979) and Lee Bennett Hopkins’s April Bubbles Chocolate (Simon & Schuster, 1994)

For more food poems:
Morrison, Lillian, comp. 1997. I Scream, You Scream: A Feast of Food Rhymes. Little Rock, AK: August House.
Rosen, Michael, J., ed. 1996. Food Fight: Poets Join the Fight Against Hunger with Poems about Their Favorite Foods. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace.
Stevenson, James. 1998. Popcorn: Poems. New York: Greenwillow.
Thomas, Joyce Carol. 1995. Gingerbread Days. New York: HarperCollins.
Westcott, Nadine Bernard, comp. 1994. Never Take a Pig to Lunch and Other Poems about the Fun of Eating. New York: Orchard.

And for some fun fall and Halloween poetry:
Alarcón, Francisco X. 1999. Angels Ride Bikes and Other Fall Poems. San Francisco, CA: Children’s Book Press.
Florian, Douglas. 2003. Autumnblings: Poems & Paintings. New York: Greenwillow.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 2006. Halloween Howls; Holiday Poetry. (An I Can Read Book.) New York: HarperCollins.
Livingston, Myra Cohn, comp. 1989. Halloween Poems. New York: Holiday House.
McNaughton, Colin. 2002. Making Friends with Frankenstein. Cambridge: Candlewick.
Merriam, Eve. 1995. Halloween ABC. New York: Aladdin; republished as SPOOKY A B C, 2002. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Prelutsky, Jack. 1977. It’s Halloween. New York: Greenwillow.
Prelutsky, Jack. 1976. Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep. New York: Greenwillow. Reprinted, New York: Mulberry Books, 1993.
Moore, Lilian. 1973. Spooky Rhymes and Riddles. New York: Scholastic.
Rex, Adam. 2005. Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich. San Diego: Harcourt.
Rogasky, Barbara, comp. 2001. Leaf by Leaf. New York: Scholastic.
Schnur, Steven. 1997. Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic. New York: Clarion.
Singer, Marilyn. 2004. Creature Carnival. New York: Hyperion.
Singer, Marilyn. 2001. Monster Museum. New York: Hyperion.

Want more Poetry Friday gems? Check out the round up at Literary Safari this week.

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