by Joyce Sidman
I am a baby porcupette.
My paws are small, my nose is wet.
And as I nurse against my mom,
we mew and coo a soft duet.
I am a baby porcupette.
I cannot climb up branches yet.
While mom sleeps in the trees, I hide
beneath a log till sun has set.
I am a baby porcupette.
I nibble in the nighttime wet:
a sprig of leaves, a tuft of grass
in hidden spots I won’t forget.
I am a baby porcupette
My fur is soft, my eyes are jet.
But I can deal with any threat:
I raise my quills
and pirouette.
Copyright © 2010 Joyce Sidman. From the book Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. Reprinted by permission of the author.
As soon as I found out that baby porcupines were called “porcupettes”, I knew I had to write a poem about them. They are brave souls, spending a lot of their time alone while their parents roam for food or sleep far above them in treetops. Find out more about them here: http://joycesidman.com/books/dark-emperor-and-other/ and watch the Dark Emperor book trailer here: http://joycesidman.com/books/dark-emperor-and-other/book-trailer-dark-emperor.html
Joyce Sidman is the author of many innovative children’s poetry books, including the Newbery Honor-winning Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night and two Caldecott Honor books, Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems and Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors. She also teaches poetry writing to schoolchildren and explores the woods and fields in her home state of Minnesota. Visit her website, www.joycesidman.com, to find book trailers, poetry ideas, and far too many photos of her dog, Watson.
This is one of my favorites!