DUST OF SNOW BY ROBERT FROST

DUST OF SNOW BY ROBERT FROST 

The way a crow 

Shook down on me 

The dust of snow 

From a hemlock tree 

Has given my heart 

A change of mood 

And saved some part 

Of a day I had rued.

HOW TO TELL WILD ANIMALS BY CAROLYN WELLS

HOW TO TELL WILD ANIMALS BY CAROLYN WELLS

This humorous poem suggests some dangerous ways to identify (or‘tell’) wild animals! Read it aloud, keeping to a strong and regular rhythm. 

If ever you should go by chance 

To jungles in the east; 

And if there should to you advance 

A large and tawny beast, 

If he roars at you as you’re dyin’ 

You’ll know it is the Asian Lion... 

Or if some time when roaming round, 

A noble wild beast greets you, 

With black stripes on a yellow ground, 

Just notice if he eats you. 

This simple rule may help you learn 

The Bengal Tiger to discern. 

If strolling forth, a beast you view, 

Whose hide with spots is peppered, 

As soon as he has lept on you, 

You’ll know it is the Leopard. 

’Twill do no good to roar with pain, 

He’ll only lep and lep again. 

If when you’re walking round your yard 

You meet a creature there, 

Who hugs you very, very hard, 

Be sure it is a Bear. 

If you have any doubts, I guess 

He’ll give you just one more caress. 

Though to distinguish beasts of prey 

A novice might nonplus, 

The Crocodile you always may 

Tell from the Hyena thus: 

Hyenas come with merry smiles; 

But if they weep they’re Crocodiles. 

The true Chameleon is small, 

A lizard sort of thing; 

He hasn’t any ears at all, 

And not a single wing. 

If there is nothing on the tree, 

’Tis the chameleon you see.

THE LOOKING GLASS BY KAMALA DAS

THE LOOKING GLASS BY KAMALA DAS 

Getting a man to love you is easy 

Only be honest about your wants as 

Woman. Stand nude before the glass with him 

So that he sees himself the stronger one 

And believes it so, and you so much more 

Softer, younger, lovelier. 

Admit your 

Admiration. Notice the perfection 

Of his limbs, his eyes reddening under 

The shower, the shy walk across the bathroom floor, 

Dropping towels, and the jerky way he 

Urinates. All the fond details that make 

Him male and your only man. 

Gift him all, 

Gift him what makes you woman, the scent of 

Long hair, the musk of sweat between the breasts, 

The warm shock of menstrual blood, and all your 

Endless female hungers. 

Oh yes, getting 

A man to love is easy, but living 

Without him afterwards may have to be 

Faced. A living without life when you move 

Around, meeting strangers, with your eyes that 

Gave up their search, with ears that hear only 

His last voice calling out your name and your 

Body which once under his touch had gleamed 

Like burnished brass, now drab and destitute.

A TIGER IN THE ZOO BY LESLIE NORRIS

A TIGER IN THE ZOO BY LESLIE NORRIS 

This poem contrasts a tiger in the zoo with the tiger in its natural habitat. The poem moves from the zoo to the jungle, and back again to the zoo. Read the poem silently once, and say which stanzas speak about the tiger in the zoo, and which ones speak about the tiger in the jungle. 

He stalks in his vivid stripes 

The few steps of his cage, 

On pads of velvet quiet, 

In his quiet rage. 

He should be lurking in shadow, 

Sliding through long grass 

Near the water hole 

Where plump deer pass. 

He should be snarling around houses 

At the jungle’s edge, 

Baring his white fangs, his claws, 

Terrorising the village! 

But he’s locked in a concrete cell, 

His strength behind bars, 

Stalking the length of his cage, 

Ignoring visitors. 

He hears the last voice at night, 

The patrolling cars, 

And stares with his brilliant eyes 

At the brilliant stars.