Strange Creatures and Other Poems about Life

By Marvin Druger

Every second of our lives, we experience something new. Even a repetition of the same experience is not exactly the same. We learn from everything that we do, and everything that we do becomes part of what we are. This book reflects on our everyday experiences and our environments. Each poem carries a thoughtful message for children and adults about life and the world around us. Sometimes life is sad; sometimes it is fun; sometimes it is ridiculous. These different moods and observations appear in the poems. They provide positive insights about life that stimulate readers to reflect on their own lives. At the end of the book, there are some poems written by Druger's grandchildren. There are a few blank pages, and readers are encouraged to write their own poems.

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Strange Creatures

An elephant is big and strong,

Its ears are large, its nose is long,

I laugh to see its funny face,

Its body seems so out of place.

But then I think how it would be

If the elephant studied me,

My face is thin, my body's tall,

My head has hair, my nose is small.

The elephant would laugh to see

How strange I really seem to be.

(Marvin Druger)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781684982028

Book preview

Strange Creatures

and Other Poems About Life

M

ARVIN

D

RUGER

Copyright © 2022 Marvin Druger

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2022

Book Cover Illustration by John Norton

ISBN 978-1-68498-201-1 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-68498-202-8 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

To Patricia Meyers Druger (1938–2014)

Her technical support, inspiration, and love made it possible for me to write this book and to survive and prosper.

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Overview Poems

A Mystery

The Magic Pencil

The Play of Life

Strange Creatures

Even Stranger Creatures

The Winds of Life

Time Marches On

Saving Time

More Time

Procrastinate

Circles

$100 Bill

Today

Curtain of Life

Arrows

Strange Things

Reality

Absolutely Relative

Gravity

Different Tears

Toys

A Whisper

Foosingers

East to West

Soft and White

My Shadow

Upside Down

Smart Computers

People and Behavior

Tininess

Lazy Lee

You Are Special

Beauty Inside

My Turtle Shell

Words

Feelings

Walking

Halloween

Counting Sheep

Fly Thoughts

Need

The Beautiful Beast

A Lesson in Life

My Future

My Greatness

Please and Thank You

Foggy

My Family

Mother’s Day

Music

One Penny

A Bearded Man

Age and Beauty

Older People

Noses

Work and Play

Jogging

The Grump

A Teacher’s Farewell

A Computer Nerd

Goodbye Pacifier

More at Four

Darkness and Light

The Wooden Chair

Knee Surgery

Gall Bladder Removal

Anger

Yoga

My Camera

Toothless

Pills

My Haircut

The Mirror Man

Finding Our Way

Myself

A Lifetime

Arithmetic

The Lonely Boy

Family Visits

The Bully

Being Alone

The Cookie Man

The Door of Life

Owasco Marina

The Skaneateles Festival

The Mountain Bus

Nothing

Food

Grapes

Pizza

Chips

Special Sandwich

Too Fat

Fried Foods

Sweet Dreams

The Growling Stomach

Ice Is Nice

Salt

Sharing a Bagel

Love and Caring

What Love Means

My Teddy

My Secret Friend

The Tree

My Secret

Love and Laugh

Darkness, Light, and Love

Booky and Cooky

A Kinder, Better Place

Sharing Wealth

Two Old Horses

Three Horse Friends

Organic Love

Sharing

Blue Is You

Happiness and Sadness

How They Met

Just Plain Love

My Baby Sister

Aging

To Pat on Our 50th Anniversary

To Pat on Our 52nd Anniversary

To Pat on Our 55th Anniversary

Death of a Loved One

Beasts, Bugs, Plants, and Nature

The Not-Real Crocodile

My Dog Max

Goodbye Max

Gone Fishing

The Laughing Kookaburra

This and That

The Spider

The Worm

Crows

The Firefly

Help Free Me

The Caterpillar

The Ant

The Last Leaf to Drop

Tomatoes

Living Plants

Floating Seeds

The Yellow Day Lily

Deer Everywhere

A Flower and Frost

A Green Plant

The Lonely Flower

The Fallen Leaf

Rainbow

Birds, Cats, and Squirrels

Snow

Ducks

A Lonely Bird

Listen to Nature

Life Is Everywhere

Super Zillions

The Active Rock

To Step or Not to Step

You Can Write Poems Too

Eggs

Behind a Glass

Stars

Life and Death

The Library Book

Martin Luther King’s Dream

Mr. Good

Mr. Bad

Poems by You

Your Poems

Preface

The inspiration for this book of poems arose several years ago. I was reading a children’s book to my granddaughter, Lindsey. The book was terrible. Yet it was a published book. My thought was, I can do better than this. So I started writing poems about life that would be appealing to children and adults and would be sprinkled with humor. I tried to hire a professional illustrator, but I didn’t like their illustrations. In my mind, I had a vision of what each illustration should be, and the illustrators couldn’t match my vision. So I decided to do all of the illustrations myself, even though I believed that I couldn’t draw. A professional illustrator later asked, Who did the illustrations? They’re great.

How was it possible for me to write a book of poetry and do all the illustrations? After all, I am a biologist and a science educator, not a writer of children’s books or an artist. The answer is consistent with my philosophy that everyone is different and has unique talents. Everyone can do something special that nobody else can do. Unfortunately. an individual’s talents are not always expressed for a variety of reasons. I was fortunate to discover that I could write poems and illustrate them, albeit the illustrations are childlike but appealing. Humor is an important aspect of many of the poems.

This book about life is also intended to encourage readers to reflect on their own life experiences and write their own poems. Sample poems by my grandchildren and some blank pages are included at the end of the book.

So read, experience, laugh, and enjoy Strange Creatures and Other Poems About Life.

Marvin Druger, Professor Emeritus

Biology and Science Education

Syracuse University

Syracuse, NY 13244

Acknowledgments

Many individuals contributed to this book in some way. Many people provided new thoughts that were transformed into poetry. Others, too numerous to name, contributed technical support. So thanks to all.

Overview Poems

A Mystery

A mystery is something

That we don’t know much about,

It tells us there’s a puzzle

That we need to figure out.

        What’s in this book’s a mystery,

        But I’ll give you a clue,