If you’d like to read my interview with lovely Joshua Seigal in the wonderful Books for Keeps Magazine, it is here:
https://content.yudu.com/web/1mjdv/0A1mjdx/BfKNo243July2020/html/index.html?page=8&origin=reader
Tag: Joshua Seigal
A Funny Poem a Day – Box, by Joshua Seigal
It has to be said that Lola is partial to a box. Not as partial as Milla our cat was, but she still quite likes them. However, unlike in Josh’s Box poem, Lola prefers her toys – particularly her unicorn. Thanks for this poem Josh! You can find this poem in Josh’s great new book, Welcome to My Crazy Life, Bloomsbury Education.
Box
You can give her a ball
or a small fluffy toy,
you can hand her a plaything
for her to enjoy,
you can come home all laden
with ramps, posts and blocks,
but all that she’ll want
is a plain cardboard box.
You can go to the pet shop
and fritter your dosh
on fancy contraptions
that seem rather posh,
you can hope that your purchases
will entertain her,
but all that she’ll want
is the cardboard container.
You can have lots of love
and the best of intentions
and spend all your time
coming up with inventions,
but nothing that you do
will she deem acceptable,
all that she’ll crave
is the cardboard receptacle.
So listen in closely
and heed my advice,
no matter your gift
and no matter how nice,
the only thing certain
is this paradox,
all that she’ll want
is the damn cardboard BOX!
© Joshua Seigal
Here is Josh’s own pet, his beeeautiful cat, Bluebell!
Book Review: Welcome to my Crazy Life, Joshua Seigal
Welcome to my Crazy Life, Joshua Seigal, illustrated by Chris Piascik, Pub. Bloomsbury.
Full of jokes, great fun! Some nice poems about reading, writing and poetry in here, perfect for the classroom, to instigate discussion. Lots of familiar situations, not-so-familiar situations, and darned ridiculous situations, this book is bound to please. Recommended.
National Poetry Week! Truth Poem from Joshua Seigal
Tuesday’s poem for National Poetry week is from Joshua Seigal. Joshua is a London-based poet, a performer and educator. He has three published books and has performed all over the world. He has held residencies at numerous schools, and is an official National Poetry Day Ambassador. His website is here and his book, I don’t Like Poetry, illustrated by Chris Piascik, here.
Lies
Whenever I start crying
I say that I feel sick,
and no one knows I’m lying –
It always does the trick.
It’s what I tell my teachers,
my friends, my mum and dad –
I tell them that I feel sick
when really I feel sad.
© Joshua Seigal (from I Don’t Like Poetry, Bloomsbury 2016)
Thank you for this lovely poem, Joshua Seigal!
#AtoZ Challenge; V is for Vexing Rex by Joshua Seigal
Joshua Seigal is a London-based poet, performer and educator. He has three published books and has performed all over the world. He has held residencies at numerous schools, is an official National Poetry Day Ambassador, and was shortlisted for a National Literacy Trust Award and the Laugh Out Loud Award. Joshua works with children of all ages and abilities, as well as running training days for teachers and doing comedy and spoken word performances for grown ups. His website is here and his book, I don’t Like Poetry, illustrated by Chris Piascik, here. His latest book is I Bet I Can Make You Laugh, published by Bloomsbury and illustrated by Tim Wesson.
The poem Joshua has sent appears in I Bet I Can Make You Laugh (I bet he can!):
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Vexing Rex
If you want to annoy my dog,
(and I mean really, really annoy him),
don’t bother taking his dinner.
He’ll look bemused, maybe let out
a whine, but he can handle it.
Nor is it any use to snatch his toy,
or to cut short his walk –
he’ll get confused, maybe sulk
for a time, but he’ll face it with patience.
No, if you want to really, really annoy my dog
just blow
very softly
on his head.
He’ll bristle and yelp
and bat the breeze with his paws…
He’ll snuffle and yap
and snap the gust with his jaws…
If you want to really, really annoy my dog,
a tiny little puff or air
will get him as growly
as a grizzly bear.
And it isn’t just my dog:
if you want to really, really annoy my dad
just do what I do
and climb in bed with him,
on a Sunday morning,
and blow
very gently
in his face…
.
© Joshua Seigal
If you would like to blog hop to the next AtoZ Challenge post then follow this link.
Children’s Poets’ Climate Change Blog: Be the Change
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KidsPoets4Climate Twitter: https://twitter.com/poets4climate
Children’s Poetry Summit Twitter: https://twitter.com/kidspoetsummit
I Bet I Can Make You Laugh, Poems by Joshua Seigal and Friends
There’s something in this anthology collected by Joshua Seigal to tickle all funnybones – young or old!
Joshua Seigal is an award-winning poet, performer and educator who uses poetry to develop literacy skills and inspire confidence and creativity in communication.
My favourite poem was my dog, Lola’s, favourite poem. Joshua once wrote a great poem for Lola. She is one of his fans.
DogMatic
I’ve got a new DogMatic
she’s my automatic pet.
Of all the beasts I’ve ever bought
she is the best one yet.
She likes to play outside with me
but sometimes she gets wet,
and then she blows her circuitry
and ends up at the vet.
I’ve got a new DogMatic,
she’s my high-perfomance mate.
Of all the cronies I could own
it’s her I really rate.
I simply click a button
and she starts to calculate
the distance to the park, in metres,
from our garden gate.
I’ve got a new DogMatic –
she’s my electronic chum.
She’s smarter than my sister,
more efficient than my mum.
She has a byte at dinner time
and then, when she is done,
a tiny little microchip
comes plopping out her bum…
© Joshua Seigal
You can buy I Bet I Can Make you Laugh, humorously illustrated by Tim Wesson, here.
Joshua Seigal Performs his Poem ‘Let’s Play’
Here is the hilarious Joshua Seigal with his poem Let’s Play from his book Little Lemur Laughing. His latest book, I Bet I can Make you Laugh, is out now. Read more about Joshua here.
Yuck and Yum by Joshua Seigal and Neal Zetter
A feast of funny food poems, accompanied by some really very dodgy laugh-out-loud facts, except for the ones that are clearly true, such as 99.4% of children say they would prefer Brussel sprouts to chocolate if they had to choose one or the other for a snack.
These are read-out-loud poems, and having heard the one reproduced below performed by Neal, extremely effective and great fun.
.
Ba nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana
What’s the longest fruit you’ve seen?
Found in milkshake, yoghurt and ice cream
When they’re on my plate I lick it clean
A tremendous taste
Too good to waste
Ba nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana
.
You’ll slip upon their slimy skin
So put the peel into the bin
What word doesn’t stop after it begins?
Simply unending
I’m always bending my
Ba nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana
.
You can mash them
You can squash them
You can squish them
You can gulp them
You can fry them
You can spread them
You can pound them
You can pulp them
When I ask what food you’ve had today
I’m hoping that you’re going to say
Ba nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana
.
Monkeys eat them at the zoo
They’re yellow and black not orange and blue
Ideal in soup or in a stew
They’re versatile
Shaped like a smile
Ba nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana
.
Buy them by the kilo, pound or bunch
Stick them in your sandwich box for lunch
They’re the ideal snack when it comes to the crunch
Travelling all the way from Jamaica
What fruit’s got a name that’s a record breaker?
Ba nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana
.
Before you get some from the store
Shout out this poem’s title once more
Ba nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana nana
.
© Neal Zetter
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My favourite poem by Joshua Seigal is By Royal Appointment. I’m pretty sure she does like a certain dark brown spread for toast. Who doesn’t?
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Yuck and Yum, a Feast of Funny Food Poems by Joshua Seigal and Neal Zetter, Troika, is available here.
S is for Children’s Poet Joshua Seigal, #AtoZChallenge #ZtoA
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Joshua Seigal
Joshua Seigal is a London-based poet, a great performer as you see above, and educator. He has three published books and has performed all over the world. He has held residencies at numerous schools, is an official National Poetry Day Ambassador, and was shortlisted for a National Literacy Trust Award and the Laugh Out Loud Award. Joshua works with children of all ages and abilities, as well as running training days for teachers and doing comedy and spoken word performances for grown ups. His website is here and his book, I don’t Like Poetry, illustrated by Chris Piascik, here.
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Here is the great title poem from that book!
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I Don‘t Like Poetry
.
I don’t like similes.
Every time I try to think of one
my brain feels like a vast, empty desert;
my eyes feel like raisins floating in an ocean;
my fingers feel like sweaty sausages.
I don’t like metaphors.
Whenever I attempt them
a hammer starts beating in my chest;
lava starts bubbling in my veins;
zombies have a fight in my stomach.
I don’t like alliteration.
We learnt about it in school
but it’s seriously, stupendously silly;
definitely drastically difficult;
terribly, troublingly tricky.
I don’t like onomatopoeia.
I wish I could blow it up
with a ZAP! and a BANG! and a CRASH!;
a BOOM! and a CLANG! and a POW!;
a CLASH! and a BAM! and a THUD!
And I don’t like repetition
I don’t like repetition
I don’t like repetition…
.
© Joshua Seigal
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A Christmas Poetry Competition on PoetryZone!
Roger Stevens’ excellent PoetryZone has a new competition – Write a Poem for Christmas.
It can be a funny, sad or serious poem. If you don’t celebrate Christmas, send a poem about the holidays, or about winter.
Poems can be long, short, rhyming or non-rhyming, and in any style. You may enter as many poems as you like. But remember, Roger is looking for originality.
Three winners aged 7 and under will win copies of Joshua Seigal’s Little Lemur Laughing Three winners aged 8 or over will win copies of Joshua Seigal’s I Don’t Like Poetry.
All the details here on PoetryZone. Get writing!
National Poetry Day Release List of Poetry Books to Inspire Children!
.Poetry is booming – and in the case of poetry for children, it should be – Pie Corbett‘s article, below, explains just why!
Here is the entire list of poetry being promoted in the run up to National Poetry Day by the Forward Arts Foundation -congratulations to the children’s poets included!
Jelly Boots, Smelly Boots Rosen/Tazzyman, Bloomsbury children’s:
Reaching the Stars Brownlee/Dean/Morgan, Macmillan:
It’s Not My Fault Stevens/Withrow, Bloomsbury Children’s:
The World’s Greatest Space Cadet James Carter, Bloomsbury Children’s:
Little Lemur Laughing Joshua Seigal, Bloomsbury Children’s:
Overheard in a Tower Block Joseph Coelho, Otter-Barry Books:
A Poem for Every Day of the Year Ed. Allie Esiri, Macmillan:
The Noisy Classroom Ieva Flamingo, The Emma Press:
Moonrise Sarah Crossan, Bloomsbury:
Five Nonsense Poems Candlestick Press:
…
Poetry Roundabout 