Jack Prelutsky Quotes

There's a goblin as green
As a goblin can be
Who is sitting outside
And is waiting for me.
When he knocked on my door
And said softly, "Come play!"
I answered, "No thank you,
Now please, go away!"
But the goblin as green
As a goblin can be
Is still sitting outside
And is waiting for me.

Children seem naturally drawn to poetry - it's some combination of the rhyme, rhythm, and the words themselves.

I often repeat repeat myself,
I often repeat repeat.
I don't don't know why know why,
I simply know that I I I
am am inclined to say to say
a lot a lot this way this way-
I often repeat repeat myself,
I often repeat repeat.

I often repeat repeat myself,
I often repeat repeat.
My mom my mom gets mad gets mad,
it irritates my dad my dad,
it drives them up a tree a tree,
that's what they tell they tell me me-
I often repeat repeat myself,
I often repeat repeat.

I often repeat repeat myself,
I often repeat repeat.
It gets me in a jam a jam,
but that's the way I am I am,
in fact I think it's neat it's neat
to to to to repeat repeat-
I often repeat repeat myself,
I often repeat repeat.

There's a leaf clinging fast to
a branch,
though withered, it somehow
holds on,
and a single bird singing its song,
though all of its kindred have gone.

And as long as that little leaf stays,
and as long as that stubborn
bird sings,
then autumn remains in the world,
and winter must wait in the wings.

There's not too much difference between writing a picture book and writing a collection of a hundred poems or so, except that the bigger books take a lot longer to do.

I'm never bored.

I write the poems first, with only a few exceptions for odd reasons, where I'm given the illustration first.

Otherwise I don't read much adult poetry at all, because I'm not smart enough and mostly I don't get it.

Writing gives me the opportunity to explore ideas, play with language, solve problems, use my imagination, and draw on my own childhood.

I always knew would be some sort of artist, but didn't know what.

I would go to sketch groups and draw. I really enjoyed the subject matter, but I wasn't good at it.

I'm usually working on eight or 10 things at once.

My Snowman sadly bowed
his head
in March, one sunny day,
and this is what he softly said
before he went away:

'In the middle of December
I was handsome, round,
and tall,
now I hardly can remember
those December days at all.
Oh my stomach's started
shrinking,
I am losing all my form,
and I'm thinking as I'm
shrinking
that I wish it weren't warm.

I can feel my shoulders
stooping
as my body's getting thin,
my nose has started
drooping
and my mouth has lost
its grin,
I am surely getting
shorter,
there is little left
of me,
my head is but a quarter
of the size it used to be.

I am getting hard of hearing
and my vision's little use,
for my ears are disappearing
and my eyes are coming loose.
Through the icy weeks
of winter
I stood prouder than a king,
now I'm thinner than
a splinter,
winter's melting into spring!'

I am running in a circle
and my feet are getting sore,
and my head is
spinning
spinning
as it's never spun before,
I am
dizzy
dizzy
dizzy.
Oh! I cannot bear much more,
I am trapped in a
revolving
...volving
...volving
...volving door!

If you don't believe in dragons,
It is curiously true
That the dragons you disparage
Choose to not believe in you.

When I began writing, I didn't read any other children's poets ... I didn't want to be influenced until I'd found my own voice. Now I read them all.

We all need ways to express ourselves, and poetry is one of mine.

After I'd produced about two dozen pen and ink drawings, one evening I decided that they needed poems to accompany them. I still have no idea where that notion came from, but it took me about two hours to produce verses for these creatures.

The sound of a word is at least as important as the meaning.

I spied my shadow slinking
up behind me in the night,
I issued it a challenge,
and we started in to fight.

I wrestled with that shadow,
but it wasn't any fun,
I tried my very hardest -
all the same, my shadow won.

Then I decided to draw from and on my own imagination, and everything came out perfect.

She comes by night, in fearsome flight, in garments black as pitch, the queen of doom upon her broom, the wild and wicked witch.

I'm working now on a collection of Shakespearean sonnets, about 100 of them, that I may publish if anyone's interested. My take on life is a little different from the bard's.

We Built a Castle Near the Rocks,
we built it out of sand.
Our fortress was an ice-cream box
with turret, tall and grand.
Our men were twigs, our gun were straws
from which we'd sipped at lunch.
We had the best of wars ...
till someone's foot
went
CRUNCH!
[Joan Walsh Anglund]

I keep a guitar around while writing and will improvise music. I do this for several reasons, such as that it's fun, and sometimes it helps me with the meter.

Yubbazubbies, you are yummy,
you are succulent and sweet,
you are splendidly delicious,
quite delectable to eat,
how I smack my lips with relish
when you bump against my knees,
then nuzzle up beside me,
chirping, "Eat us if you please!"

You are juicy, Yubbazubbies,
you are tender, never tough,
you are appetizing morsels,
I can never get enough,
you have captivating flavors
and a tantalizing smell,
a bit like candied apple,
and a bit like caramel.

Yubbazubbies, you are luscious,
you are soft and smooth as silk,
like a dish of chicken dumplings,
or a glass of chocolate milk,
even when I'm hardly hungry,
I am sure to taste a few,
and I'm never disappointed,
Yubbazubbies, I love you.

Be glad your nose is on your face"

Be glad your nose is on your face,
not pasted on some other place,
for if it were where it is not,
you might dislike your nose a lot.

Imagine if your precious nose
were sandwiched in between your toes,
that clearly would not be a treat,
for you'd be forced to smell your feet.

Your nose would be a source of dread
were it attached atop your head,
it soon would drive you to despair,
forever tickled by your hair.

Within your ear, your nose would be
an absolute catastrophe,
for when you were obliged to sneeze,
your brain would rattle from the breeze.

Your nose, instead, through thick and thin,
remains between your eyes and chin,
not pasted on some other place--
be glad your nose is on your face!

My wife used to tell me one of my best qualities was that my feet don't smell, but I remember my brother's did when we were kids.

It's Valentine's Day,
and in the street
there's freezing rain,
and slush, and sleet,
the wind is fierce,
the skies are gray,
I don't think I'll
go out today.

But here inside,
the weather's warm,
there is no trace
of wind or storm,
and you just made
the morning shine -
you said you'd be
my valentine.

I invented animals and birds - I had about two dozen. After working on them for six months, I sat down and just for fun wrote two dozen poems to accompany the drawings. It was for no one to every see, but a friend sent me in to an editor.

I accept challenges, I have always done that in writing.

His blood is black and boiling hot, he gurgles ghastly groans. He'll cook you in his dinner pot, your skin, your flesh, your bones.

I love you more than applesauce,
than peaches and a plum,
than chocolate hearts and cherry tarts
and berry bubblegum.

I love you more than lemonade
and seven-layer cakes,
than lollipops and candy drops
and thick vanilla shakes.

I love you more than marzipan,
than marmalade on toast,
oh, I love pies of any size,
but I love YOU the most.