Poetry Tag: Helen Frost is IT

Matthea Harvey shared her “paired parrot” poem yesterday and next up is Helen Frost who writes, “This may be a tenuous connection, but there are boys coming home from school in Matthea's poem, and in this one of mine.” Here is Frost’s poem from her novel in verse, Spinning Through the Universe.





Pepperoni Was My Dog
By Helen Frost


I know how Ryan feels. Suki, his white cat—she’s

Missing. He wants me to help him look, but
I don’t know his cat. I don’t know where
Suki sleeps or what she eats. In other words,
Suki isn’t Pepperoni.

Pepperoni was my dog. He died. Now
Every day when I come home from school,
Pepperoni doesn’t thump his tail.
Pepperoni doesn’t curl beside me on the couch,
Even if I whistle and pat the place he likes.
Rawhide bones and chewed up toys aren’t left all
Over the back yard. My ears are empty from the
Noises Pepperoni doesn’t make.
I know how much space one cat or dog can fill.

Poem from SPINNING THROUGH THE UNIVERSE by Helen Frost. Copyright © 2004 by Helen Frost. Used by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.

Five fun facts about Helen Frost
*she was born in South Dakota
*she is one of ten children
*she has worked as a teacher in Scotland, Alaska, and Indiana
*she enjoys raising and releasing monarch butterflies
*she has written nonfiction series books in science and biology
[Based on Poetry People; A Practical Guide to Children’s Poets]

Look for these poetry books by Helen Frost:
*Keesha's House (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003)
*Spinning through the Universe (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2004)
*The Braid (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006)
*Diamond Willow (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2008)
*Crossing Stones (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009)



Next up: George Ella Lyon



Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2010. All rights reserved.

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