He's a poet - and kids all know it

Lewis first wrote poems for adults. Then, for seven years, he submitted his writing for children to publishers. And for seven years he received rejection letters. That changed when his first book, "The Tsar and the Amazing Cow," was published in 1988.

Writing is rewarding, but not easy, he says. Even though he has published many books of poetry, Lewis has a "sagging bookcase" that holds 25 unpublished manuscripts that have been rejected by publishers. "The biggest thing I try to emphasize [to the children] is the importance of rewriting," he says. "They believe [that] once it's written, it's published. I try to leave kids with four words: 'Nothing succeeds like failure.' "

Lewis will rewrite a single poem 20 times.

"If writing were easy, everybody would be doing it," Lewis says. "If you're failing, you're trying."

This year he will publish six more books. He gets his ideas from his imagination, from reading books, and from other people.

He will have other books published in the next few years: a parody of the baseball classic "Casey at the Bat," riddles, the Civil War in verse, and Christmas poetry.

"If you give me a weird subject, and I think there's the remotest possibility, then I'll do it," he says. "If you are open to the idea of possibility, then the possibilities expand for you."

Is the Yellow Sea yellow?
Is the Red Sea red?
Is the Black Sea black?
Is the Dead Sea dead?

Yes, because there's too much loess -
A fine, rich yellow silt.

Yes, because the red seaweed
Is floating like a quilt.

No, the black comes from,
They say, dark, brooding storms.

Yes, it's dead. No fish, no plants,
Or any of life's forms.
It's no one's fault ...
Just too much salt!

- J. Patrick Lewis

Born in 1680
(No one can say for sure),
Possibly in Bristol, England,
Early life, obscure,
Teach heard them calling longingly -
The sirens of the sea.
Obsessed, he navigated west.
His landfall? Destiny.

Sometime between 1702 and 1713,
Was it a Jamaica privateer
That sailed for the Queen?
And did Teach prove his valor
And his boldness to the cause
Of Queen Anne's War before he set
About to breaking laws?

Apprenticed to the famous pirate
Benjamin Hornigold,
Teach taught the crew a thing or two,
And the future was foretold.
New Providence, Bahamas,
Was the sea dog's port of call.
He would become the most
Swashbuckling buccaneer of all.

- J. Patrick Lewis

A children's book is a classic
If at six, excitedly
You read it to another kid
Who just turned sixty-three.

- J. Patrick Lewis

My advice to the Tablespoon Slurper:
Beware what you do with that scoop!
The Capitals, sir,
Can cause quite a stir
In a bowlful of Alphabet Soup.

While K, Z, and B do the backstroke
Across this hot, steamy lagoon,
The fun-loving Vowels
May want tiny towels
To dry themselves off on the spoon.

But when Letters go swimming together
In sentences, nothing can beat
The pleasure of reading
The food that you're eating!
So dive in and - bon appétit!

- J. Patrick Lewis

The poem 'Eating Alphabet Soup,' from 'Please Bury Me in the Library'; 'Apprentice Pirate,' from 'Blackbeard: The Pirate King,' to be published in May; 'A Classic,' from 'Please Bury Me in the Library'; and 'Is the Yellow Sea Yellow?' from 'A Book of Wonders: Geographic Travels in Verse and Rhyme.'

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