Sue Santiago
Children's Writer & Sometimes Poet
5 am on duty
Sound the alarm!
Sound the alarm!
There’s a rumbly monster outside!
It’s getting nearer.
Stand guard!
It’s getting closer.
Louder now!
It’s coming for us!
Ready?
Bark Attack!
It’s passing us!
We’ve got it running for cover!
You better keep going you yellow-bellied giantly rumbler!
Our alarm has worked!
We have protected our people!
Now we can return to sleep.
or maybe a good bone would be better.
Yes! I could go for a good gnaw.
That monster got me all worked up.
This bone will get me all worked down.
Just gnaw, gnaw, gnaw
now grind, grind, grind.
Now the other side.
gnaw, gnaw, gnaw
grind, grind, grind
OOH! Sue’s eyes are open.
but she’s not blinking.
she’s just staring
at me.
I better make sure
she’s alive.
She’s not moving.
I think I’ll go sniff her.
Her eyes are following me!
She’s alive!
I bet she’s proud
of the way
I kept
the rumbly monster away.
Now she’ll give me
the best good morning scratch
ever!
Playing with Tricube Poetry
Phillip Larrea, a poet from California, is credited with creating the poetic form called Tricube. It is deceptively simple. Three stanzas. Three lines per stanza. Three syllables per line.
Time to play!
First Day
Pencils sharp
Clothes sorted
Haircuts trimmed
Dawdling girl
excited boy
watchful pups
Quiet house
time to write
mother torn
Brainstorm
Towel* wrapped bod
dripping hair
wet foot prints.
Dash through house
kids not shocked
“It’s just mom.”
Seize journal
before thoughts
drip down too.
*Okay, towel is technically two syllables, but not when you say it the normal way, right?
