It’s almost Summer Reading Club time (also known as the most wonderful time of the year for children’s librarians), and this year the theme in my province is “Under the Sea” with art by local author and illustrator Hayley Lowe.
I was inspired by this delightful theme to write an ocean-inspired poem. I did a quick search for “unusual ocean creatures” and was spoiled for choice – the oceans are full of wild and wonderful critters unlike anything we might find on earth!
For this week’s poem I settled on the “sea pig”, which, perhaps unsurprisingly, is not a pig. It’s not even a mammal! The sea pig is actually a kind of sea cucumber – which is not, in fact, a cucumber, or any kind of plant. No one seems to know how the sea pig got its inaccurate name, beyond the fact that they sometimes have a pinkish hue, which is a bit of stretch, if you ask me!
I’ve got some amazing programs planned for this summer, focusing on the wonders of the underwater world, including a “gross animal” program, and a celebration of one of my favourite oceanic mammals, the manatee!
I have a feeling some more water-based poetry is in my future – there’s so much inspiration to be found, to quote Sebastian, “down where it’s wetter”!
Also – I just realized it’s Mother Day this weekend, I completely forgot, which is funny, seeing as I am in fact a mother. So, in a sea of motherhood-themed poetry, enjoy this ode to a sea cucumber. ;-D
Have a wonderful weekend, poetry friends!
Cathy is our Poetry Friday host this week.
What an interesting creature, this sea cucumber, and a delightful poem. Sounds like a fun summer planned. I also love the manatee. I used to visit them often when I went to Florida in the past to see my parents.
That’s amazing! I really would love to see a manatee in real life, I’ve watched them slowly drift along on TV and they just seem so wonderful
Jane, haha! What a fun poem you wrote about that little sea cucumber sea pig, which is neither. So weird. It’s fun to read about your plans for the summer. I’ll look forward to reading more about what you do with the manatee.
Animals just seem to have the weirdest names sometimes! I did some research for my funny book that’s coming out in October (shameless little plug), and I was just enthralled by all the wild and sometimes nonsensical names scientists have given to critters over the years! ;-D
I’ll welcome poems about unusual sea creatures on ANY random holidays of the year! With all of the amazing diversity of nature, you think we humans would be more creative in naming our fellow travelers. But no.
We do seem to come up with some very….unusual names! 😀
Thanks for sharing your fun poem and for the interesting info about sea pigs!! Sounds like you have a wonderful summer planned. 🙂
It’s going to be so much fun! Exhausting, but fun. 🙂
Hooray! We school librarians are looking forward to tucking our books and materials away for a summer nap as the kiddos enjoy time in the public library programming. Under the Sea sounds wonderful–as does a gross creature project. I look forward to hearing more, more, more!
Ha ha yes, we welcome all the school children and keep them filled with books until they can return to school and their familiar school library. 🙂
What a fun theme! I have written many an ocean-y poem! Do you know WATER SINGS BLUE by Kate Coombs? A must! Your sea pig poem is adorable. They remind me of “water bears” (tardigrades). xo
Oh, thank you for the recommendation! And I love tardigrades, so strangely cute!
What a cute poem, Jane! I agree with you — so much inspiration in sea creatures! (I just listened to an episode of the podcast “Ologies” the other about nudibranchs, aka sea slugs, and it was so interesting! They are so colorful and pretty.)
Happy Mother’s Day, happy weekend, happy sea cucumber day! 😀
Oh, I love “Ologies”! And aren’t nudibranches fascinating?!
Thanks for your fun fourteen-legger poem Jane. And it sounds like a fun-packed summer at your library too, thanks!
It’s going to be a blast!
Jane, what an interesting little ocean creature! Love the curiosity the photo and your poem evokes, so much fun:) Also, b.t.w. one of my first published poems was about a manatee. I’m in the fan club as well!
Oh, how fun!! I’d love to read it one day!