A Chinese dragon on a wall at the Haikou Yazhou Gu Cheng, Hainan, China, by Anna Frodesiak.
I started off Book Week in St Cuthbert’s Infant School Wells, where we had great fun writing some dragon poems.
Here’s a dragon poem from me, for Tuesday of Book Week!
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How to paint a Chinese dragon
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Use a bamboo brush
held lightly in three fingers
at the back
Flow the movement
from your shoulder; use Chinese ink
in red or black
Paint a twining
river for the body of your dragon
needs to wind
Then its head, snake
teeth bared, and its crest on the wind
waving behind
Sweep whiskers
like antennae, add a demon eye
round and wide
Armour your dragon;
curve overlapping scales along
its side
Hook eagle
claws on tiger paws, make it dance
upon the air
Paint a pearl
within its mouth, so its magic
takes it where
it can breathe
in clouds, conjure wind and rain
in sky
Give your
dragon life, take your brush, and
dot its eye.
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© Liz Brownlee
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In Chinese, 画龙点睛 (huà lóng diǎn jīng) “Paint the dragon, dot the eyes” is a saying meaning adding the finishing touch to something.
I hope you all have a fabulous Book Week, and enjoy every minute of it!
Poetry Roundabout 