Poetry Break: NCTE Award Winning Poet Karla Kuskin

Introduction: Children and music are naturals together. Since poetry has its own rhythm just like music, why not combine the two?

Lewis Has a Trumpet
By Karla Kuskin

A trumpet
A trumpet
Lewis has a trumpet
A bright one that’s yellow
A loud proud horn.
He blows it in the evening
When the moon is newly rising
He blows it when it’s raining
In the cold and misty morn
It honks and it whistles
It roars like a lion
It rumbles like a lion
With a wheeze huffing hum
His parents say it’s awful
Oh really simply awful
But
Lewis says he loves it
It’s such a handsome trumpet
And when he’s through with trumpets
He’s going to buy a drum.

(From A JAR OF TINY STARS edited by Bernice E Cullinan. Boyds Mill Press 1999)

Extension:
Every class has a poem that’s appropriate for that subject, and this is true for music class, too. When elementary school students are introduced to musical instruments, sometimes they are hesitant because they’re afraid of making the wrong kind of sound. Reading this poem out loud at the beginning of a music class can help the students to realize that music isn’t made to be played with caution; it’s made to be played with joy. If a student can’t play an instrument with skill, encourage that student to play with enthusiasm, just like Lewis. And if the students give it a try and decide that instrument’s not right for them, point out that they can always pick another instrument. After all, that’s what Lewis did!

Graphic from:
http://www.sachika.info/raw%20pics/pic%20left/trumpet-boy.jpg accessed 2/20/2009