Poetry Friday: Dogku

Dogku, by Andrew Clements, is completely adorable.

It is a picture book written entirely in haiku about a stray hound who finds a home. (Wish I’d thought of that! Curse you Andrew Clements and your cleverness!).

The deceiving simplicity of the haiku form seems to be just the right fit to express the hidden depths of the doggy mind. (I’m pretty sure dogs don’t think in phrases any longer than 7 syllables).

I like this one especially:

Scratch, sniff, eat, yawn, nap.
Dreams of rabbits and running.
Could life be sweeter?

It is if you’re my dog, who gets picked up in the afternoon by the doggy happy bus to go for a wild walk at the beach with his posse. Mr. Clements’ book is sure to liven up any teacher’s stale poetry unit. I’m seeing a class set of pet-inspired haiku collections…

In the spirit of all things poetic, if you have a pooch (or if you don’t), please take a moment to pause for poetry, and leave me a Dogku of your own. You know how it goes (5/7/5 syllables is the general rule of thumb). Here is my quickie attempt:

Uh oh… She found my
sandy dog-prints on her bed.
Good day at the beach.

Find all the rest of Andrew Clements’ delightful “dogku” in Dogku, published by Simon and Schuster.