Friday, January 23, 2009

Tales from a White House Puppy by Rebecca Kai Dotlich

Last Friday, I posted "A Puppy for the White House" by J. Patrick Lewis, an original, unpublished poem he wrote alongside his friend, poet Rebecca Kai Dotlich, in response to her challenge to "Write me a poem from a puppy's point of view for the new position in the White House. I'll do the same thing. Let's don't share until we're both done. We'll call it a poetry game in honor of the Obama girls and the new puppy they will be choosing :)." What fun!

Now, I'd like to showcase Rebecca's poem, which she says takes place after the dog has settled into the first term. Fun thought! This time, I've experimented with VizzVox in trying to incorporate both images AND audio in creating an audiovisual poem presentation for Rebecca's poem, "Tales from a White House Puppy." Enjoy!

Just in case there's a technical glitch, here is the poem in its entirety, used with permission.

Tales from a White House Puppy
by Rebecca Kai Dotlich


It's all brand new to me, this place
on Pennsylvania Avenue.
My girls are sweet, the cook is jolly.

The treats are tops, and what a view.


The White House rocks on holidays,

strings of lights, real Christmas trees.

I was in charge of bows and holly,
Allowed to nap through ritzy teas.


My days are packed with pooch surprise

at 1600 on the Avenue.
A princely place for a pup, by golly.
The girls are calling! -- Toodle-oo.


And for more Poetry Friday, thank you, Laura Purdie Salas!
Image credit: www.petshed.com

6 comments:

Linda said...

What fun to read both poems from two very talented poets!
I would love to turn this into a writing challenge for my students.
We just have so much curriculum to cover and so little time before testing. : (

jama said...

What sheer delight for a Friday morning. Loved the audiovisual presentation!

Sylvia Vardell said...

Thanks for stopping by-- glad you enjoyed these wonderful gems from Pat and Rebecca. I had so much fun exploring visual presentations of each poem.

And Linda, you can use poetry to cover the curriculum, too, depending on the skills you're focusing on. Just a thought...
Sylvia

tanita✿davis said...

Oh, your puppy poems crack me up! I do think a beagle would be awesome, and I enjoy the idea of sleeping through ritzy teas myself!!

Kelly Polark said...

Cute idea!

laurasalas said...

Sylvia, what a cool video presentation! Sound, visuals, words...it's got it all!

Fun poem! The stress of living in the White House would be overwhelming to me, but if I only had a dog's expectations, that could be fun!