and wheeling and swirling.
The same goes for turning,
The same goes for turning, revolving and curving,
revolving and curving, gyrating and twirling.
gyrating and twirling.
The crows fly directly,
but we prefer spirals, The crows fly directly,
arcs, ovals, and loops. but we prefer spirals,
arcs, ovals, and loops.
We’re fond of the phrase
“As the whirligig swims” “As the whirligig swims”
meaning traveling by
the most circular
circular roundabout
roundabout backtracking
backtracking indirect
indirect serpentine
serpentine tortuous
tortuous twisty and
twisty, turny,
best possible best possible
route. route.
Requiem
* * *
Carolina sphinx moths
Grant them rest eternal Grant them rest eternal
Maple moths
Let light undying Let light undying
shine upon them. shine upon them.
Praying mantises
green darners
rest eternal rest eternal
Black-winged damselflies
brown darners
light undying. light undying.
Grasshoppers Grasshoppers
great crested
spur-throated
three-banded
Katydids Katydids
round-headed
northern
gladiator
Cave crickets
mole crickets Cave crickets
tree crickets mole crickets
field crickets tree crickets
Grant them
rest eternal rest eternal
Give them
light undying. light undying.
This past night
we had the fall’s first
killing frost.
House Crickets
* * *
We don’t live in meadows
crick-et crick-et
or in groves
We’re house crickets
living beneath
this gas stove
crick-et crick-et
Others may worry
crick-et crick-et
about fall
We’re scarcely aware
of the seasons at all
crick-et crick-et
Spring, to house crickets,
crick-et crick-et
means no more
than the time
when fresh greens
once again grace the floor
crick-et crick-et
Summer’s the season
crick-et crick-et
for pie crumbs:
peach, pear, boysenberry,
quince, apricot, plum
crick-et crick-et
Pumpkin seeds tell us
crick-et crick-et
fall’s arrived
while hot chocolate spills
hint that it’s
winter outside.
No matter the month No matter the month
we stay well fed and warm,
unconcerned about cold fronts
and wind chill and storms.
For while others are ruled For while others are ruled
by the sun in the heavens,
whose varying height brings
the seasons’ procession,
we live in a world we live in a world
of fixed Fahrenheit
crick-et crick-et
thanks to our sun:
our unchanging
reliable
steadfast and stable
bright blue bright blue
pilot light. pilot light.
Chrysalis Diary
* * *
November 13:
Cold told me
to fasten my feet
to this branch,
to dangle upside down
from my perch,
to shed my skin,
to cease being a caterpillar
and I have obeyed.
and I have obeyed.
December 6:
Green,
the color of leaves and life,
has vanished!
has vanished!
The empire of leaves
lies in ruins!
lies in ruins!
I study the
brown new world around me.
I fear the future.
I hear few sounds.
Have any others of my kind
survived this cataclysm?
Swinging back and forth
in the wind,
I feel immeasurably alone.
January 4:
I can make out snow falling.
For five days and nights
it’s been drifting down.
I find I never tire of
watching the flakes
in their multitudes
passing my window.
The world is now white.
Astounding.
Astounding.
I enter these
wondrous events
in my chronicle
knowing no reader
would believe me.
February 12:
An ice storm last night.
Unable to see out
Yet I hear boughs cracking
and branches falling.
Hungry for sounds
in this silent world,
I cherish these,
ponder their import,
miser them away
in my memory,
and wait for more.
and wait for more.
March 28:
I wonder whether
I am the same being
who started this diary.
I’ve felt stormy inside
like the weather without.
My mouth is reshaping,
my legs are dissolving,
wings are growing
my body’s not mine.
my body’s not mine.
This morning,
a breeze from the south,
strangely fragrant,
a red-winged blackbird’s
call in the distance,
a faint glimpse of green
in the branches.
And now I recall
that last night
I dreamt of flying.
Excerpt from I Am Phoenix
Dawn
* * *
At first light the finches
are flitting about the trees
Flittering
fluttering
flit
purple finches
flit
Fluttering
flittering
fly
painted finches
fly.
Weaver finch
goldfinches
Weaver finch
goldfinches
Cassin’s finch
house finches
flit
finches
flit
finches
flit
brown-capped rosy finch
flutter
flit
flutter
flutter
flit
flit
finches.
finches.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR
* * *
PAUL FLEISCHMAN was born in Monterey, California, and grew up in Santa Monica in a family of gardeners. He attended the University of California at Berkeley and the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque, and now lives in Aromas, California. He is the author of many books for young readers that draw on his interest in music, history, theater, and multiple viewpoints—including Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, winner of the Newbery Medal, Graven Images
, a Newbery Honor Book, and Bull Run, winner of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction.
You can visit Paul online at: www.paulfleischman.net
ERIC BEDDOWS was born and raised in Ontario, Canada. Under the name of Ken Nutt he illustrated I AM PHOENIX. He has had many one-man shows of his art and received numerous grants and awards for excellence. He has illustrated several children’s books, including THE CAVE OF SNORES by Dennis Haseley and WHO SHRANK MY GRANDMOTHER’S HOUSE by Barbara Juster Ebensen.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
ALSO BY PAUL FLEISCHMAN
* * *
Young Adult Novels
Seek
Mind’s Eye
Whirligig
Seedfolks
A Fate Totally Worse Than Death
Bull Run
The Borning Room
Saturnalia
Picture Books
Sidewalk Circus
The Animal Hedge
Weslandia
Lost
Time Train
Poetry
Big Talk: Poems for Four Voices
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices
I Am Phoenix: Poems for Two Voices
Middle Grade Fiction
The Half-A-Moon Inn
Non-Fiction
Cannibal in the Mirror
Dateline: Troy
CREDITS
* * *
Cover art © 1988 by Eric Beddows
Cover © 2005 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
COPYRIGHT
* * *
JOYFUL NOISE. Poems for Two Voices. Text copyright © 1988 by Paul Fleischman. Illustrations copyright © 1988 by Eric Beddows. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harperchildrens.com
* * *
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fleischman, Paul.
Joyful noise.
“A Charlotte Zolotow Book.”
Summary: A collection of poems describing the characteristics and activities of a variety of insects.
ISBN 0-06-021852-5 — ISBN 0-06-021853-3 (lib. bag.)
ISBN 0-06-446093-2 (pbk.)
EPub Edition April 2013 ISBN 9780062283672
1. Insects—Juvenile poetry. 2. Children’s poetry, American. [1. Insects—Poetry. 2. American poetry.] I. Beddows, Eric, 1951– ill. II. Title.
PS3556.L42268J69 1988 811’.54 87-45280
* * *
12 13 14 SCP 20 19 18 17 16
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
* * *
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