My guest this week on Poetry from Daily Life is Alan Katz, who lives in Milford, Connecticut. Alan says, “I’ve been writing since Miss Gordon showed me the alphabet in kindergarten. But I’ve been a professional writer (for books, TV, advertising, game shows, animation and more) since age 17.” He sold jokes to comedian Henny Youngman when he was in high school ($7 a joke). Two unique facts about Alan Katz are that he has a photo taken with Henny Youngman and he has never had a cup of tea or a pickle. ~ David L. Harrison
When I met my wonderful wife Rose, we found it funny that we were both writers. I wrote comedy for television and advertising, and she was a gifted (Pulitzer-nominated!) journalist and poet.
Rose asked me if I wrote poetry too. I shrugged and said, “No, I’ve never tried.” And we left it at that.
The truth is, while I admired Rose’s serious, thoughtful poems, I just didn’t think poetry was for me.
Not long after, while writing funny songs for The Rosie O’Donnell Show, I developed a book of song parodies called “Take Me Out of the Bathtub.” Sure, they were written in verse. But were they poetry? Nah!
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Poetry wasn’t for me.
Then, Emma Dryden, my wonderful editor at Simon and Schuster, asked me to write a book of poetry. I didn’t think I could, but she convinced me to give it a shot. My book “Oops!” is a testament to trying something new and working hard to achieve it. So is the follow-up, “Poems I Wrote When No One Was Looking,” and the other poetry books I’ve written since.
Now, I tend to write funny rhyming poems. But as I tell kids at school visits, not all poems rhyme and not all poems are funny. But you’ve got to give poetry a chance.
Here’s the first poem in “Oops!” I wrote the first line, “The wind is blowing quite a breeze,” because I looked out the window and the wind was blowing quite a breeze. When I visit schools, I challenge kids to come up with a second line to continue that poem. And kids who’ve never tried poetry think of great lines. I’ve heard …
“The wind is blowing quite a breeze
“It’s so cold that I might freeze.”
“The wind is blowing quite a breeze
“Look out — there’s a swarm of bees!”
“The wind is blowing quite a breeze
“I’d really like a piece of cheese.”
“The wind is blowing quite a breeze
“I’m going back in the house.”
All from that one beginning line, we had the start of a winter poem, a spring garden poem, a picnic poem (or a poem written by a mouse), and a short, decisive poem. All from kids who had most likely thought that poetry wasn’t for them.
With that one effort, they learned (as I did) that poetry is for them.
Because poetry is for everybody.
By the way, here’s how I finished the poem. You can read it, and 99 others, in “Oops!”
The wind is blowing quite a breeze
The wind is blowing on my knees.
The wind is blowing its spring dance.
It tells me I forgot my pants.
Alan Katz focuses on writing humor for kids. Among his 50 books are picture books, song parody books, poetry books, middle grade chapter books, early readers, even a few board books and game/trivia sets. He and his wonderful wife, Rose, are now collaborating on a poetry book — their first collaboration in 34 years of marriage, if you don’t include their four amazing kids (one of whom is a prolific political speechwriter).