Poetry Friday-Gotta Book Flapping!

       Today’s Poetry Friday is hosted by the Marjorie at Paper Tigers.  Thanks Marjorie!

              I don’t remember when I began reading Greg Pincus’ funny poems on his blog, Gotta Book, but I do know when I started, I didn’t stop.  Every day, Greg starts my day with a blessing, a big laugh.  It is said that laughter is the best medicine, and if that is so true, it is also so true that Greg dispenses promising prescriptions to heal all that ails!

              I love to read poetry, and I work hard with the words to write it, yet I know that my brain is simply not wired the same way as Greg’s.  I wish I could think “fowl” when the words “foul ball” come into my mind.  Instead, I think "baseball", and immediately turn to a problem a child had with batting.  Greg thinks chickens in his poem titled The Fowl Ball, which ends with We laughed and played, a happy group…/And danced until we flew the coop. 

              When I read Mother Goose rhymes to children, we laugh at the sing-song rhymes, but I never think that I could pretend I had anything to do with all the tragedy lying within those rhymes.  Greg has done just that with the sad, sad poem titled Uncle Goose.  He laments in the second verse:  Georgie Porgie kissed the girls,/But I’m the one who dared him./Jack and Jill both tumbled down/’Cause I’m the one who scared ‘em. 

          

           Greg also looks at things differently in his imagination, which sometimes ends with a little bit of sad, like in the poem, The Biking Blues.   This child wanted to go out riding, and says:  Instead, I’m stuck at home because my bike said,/”I’m two tired.”  Even when not the usual big joke, there is the play on words that shows Greg’s funny bone.  I find he wants us readers to look at things from different angles, to understand the importance of being silly, celebrating the little things, and laughing as much as possible.  In the poem Mixed Up, it opens with My fingers sit where you have toes./My elbow’s where you have your nose.  In

Bubble Wrap, Greg writes: Pop!  Pop!  Pop!  Pop!  Snap!  Snap!   Snap!/We just got some bubble wrap!  A final belly laugh happens when one reads Belly Button Blues, with I got no innie, got no outie./Every day it makes me pouty. 

           The wonderful thing about all this is that in April, Greg published an e-book titled The Late Bird that includes all the poems he had previously published on his blog (fifty of them!) plus four brand new ones!  I purchased it immediately and it is now on my IPad and IPhone, where I can access the poems any chance I find.  And it is a treat to read a few at a time, or all in one gulp, which I did the first couple of days.  For example, in the waiting room at a doctor’s office, I now sit quietly waiting for some appointment and bring up Greg’s e-book, relax, and laugh!

           Greg’s bio at the end of the e-book shows he's a very busy guy.  He is a poet, novelist, screenwriter, and blogger.  You can find him sharing children’s poetry (both his own and from special guests) plus children’s literature related goodies at the link above or at http://www.thehappyaccident.net, where he talks social media.  The 14 Fibs of Gregory K.  is coming soon from Arthur A. Levine Books.

             If you haven’t already, go find The Late Bird on Amazon and as Greg writes in the title of his latest post, Keep That Bird Flapping!

              Thank you Greg, for allowing me to review your wonderful poems.  They delight me every day!

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And-please check yesterday’s post if you have time.  It’s about an important book newly out, and a giveaway!  The publisher is promising to send a free copy to the winner chosen randomly from the commenters.