Poetry Friday: Question Poems as Picture Books
This week’s Poetry Friday roundup is at Sarah Grace Tuttle’s blog.
Question Poems as Picture Books
Every week my poetry group, The Nevermores, takes turns posting a prompt for the week. A few months ago, I posted the prompt to write a question poem. I’d noticed some recent picture books that were essentially illustrated question poems. Here are a few of my favorites:
Do you have a favorite picture book that is an illustrated question poem? I want to know what I missed!
Here are some other question poems samples I shared with my poetry group:
My Own Question Poem
After reading all of these question poems, I wrote my own (paired with some of my bee photography).
A shoutout to Sylvia Vardell because I tried one of her techniques for making videos from Anthologies 301 to put this video together.
Haiku of the Week
in the forest—
spider tiptoes across
his suspension bridge
Haiku & Photo © 2022 Marcie Flinchum Atkins
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16 Comments
Margaret Simon
So many wonderful buzzing words in your question poem. Your photos are so bright and colorful. That spider! You can see the little hairs on its legs! I love the use of “suspension bridge”. It’s one of those images that makes you say, “of course!”
I remembered doing question poems with my Inklings writing group. I wrote one about the wood ducks we try to attract to a nesting box each year. https://reflectionsontheteche.com/2020/03/06/poetry-friday-questions/
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Oh I love your question poem! Thank you for sharing!
Carol Varsalona
Marcie, I like the new twist on your image poems-a video full of your gorgeous nature photography accompanied by a line from your poem. Splendid. Your haiku this week is special because you captured a perfect combo. I cannot tell which came first, poem or photo?
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you, Carol! I’m most often inspired by the photos I take. The words come later usually.
Sarah Grace Tuttle
Marcie, that’s a great book list! Thank you for curating it. 🙂 We must be on the same wavelength, because I was thinking the other day how many of my poems begin with curiosity. I love your bee poem and photograph! Delightful!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
So true! So much of my writing starts with curiosity!
Laura Purdie Salas
I love your bees poem, Marcie! Especially the sizzle of sun :>) I’m trying to think of picture books that are written as questions and that feel like poems. Can’t think of any off-hand. In fact, I adored reading Wonder Walkers, but didn’t remember it was questions! What a fun approach this could be(e) for thinking about a topic before studying it in school, too. Love!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
For sure! We talk about questions a lot at school but thinking about them as questions and then turning them into poems would be a cool exercise!
Catherine Flynn
This is a terrific post, Marcie! I love all your questions about bees, and as Margaret said, all those great buzzing words! Your spider haiku is perfect and that photo is incredible! I recently noticed a web high in my rhododendron that seemed to be suspended in midair. Unfortunately, it was too high off the ground to get a good photo. And thank you for the book recommendations. Ask Me, by Bernard Waber and illustrated by Suzy Lee isn’t a poem, but rather the sweet story of a father and daughter taking a walk and asking each other questions.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you! I will revisit ASK ME.
Mary Lee
I love all the ZZZ sounds in your bee poem!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you! I love playing with sounds. My favorite part of poetry.
PATRICIA J FRANZ
I LOVE question poems! Have you seen the forthcoming TWENTY QUESTIONS by Mac Barnett?
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
I haven’t seen Mac’s new book. It doesn’t look like it’s available for preview yet. I’ll keep checking.
Heidi Mordhorst
This is quite the prodigious post! Your list of question books begins with an absolute favorite of mine, WONDER WALKERS, and FYI the NCTE Notables group decided that it wasn’t poetic enough to be included. *sigh* Who are your Nevermores, if I may ask? Weekly prompts are enticing!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Sigh. I love Wonder Walkers. It isn’t lost on me that all of these are author/illustrators (not just writers–with the exception of the famous Pablo Neruda). I do wonder if I could pull off a text only question poem as picture book. The Nevermores is a group I’m a part of on Inked Voices. I was worried about a weekly prompt, but it has proved to be such a growing experience for me.