Have you ever tried to write Narrative Poetry? Many contests offer this category and children's magazines like them, too. The poem below is one I sold to Boys' Quest in 2000. I was delighted that they wanted the poem but felt a bit deflated when they added that it would be published four years later. Of course, that meant that the check would arrive four years later, as well. To be honest, I wondered if it would even happen. It did!
Chinatown Cat started out as a sentence that kept doing flip-flops in my head one evening while watching tv. It became the first two lines of the poem below. I waited until the next day, wrote those two lines and kept going. Like some prose stories, it seemed to write itself. I had not intended it to also be a rhyming poem but that's what happened.
A Narrative Poem sounds like someone telling a story. It has a beginning, a middle and an ending.
You'll find that it has much the same qualities as a story written as prose--plot, theme, characters, setting and sometimes dialogue.
When you write a narrative poem, whether for children or adults, be sure to read it aloud to check on the rhythm, punctuation and word choices.
Some of the narrative poems you may be familiar with are Casey At The Bat, The Raven, and Paul Revere's Ride.
If you haven't tried writing a poem like this, give it a whirl. It's fun, challenging and a way to expand your ability, too. I'm sharing my poem about a boy and a cat in Chinatown. What seems so strange to me is that I've always been more of a dog lover, so why did this cat jump into my head that long ago evening?
Chinatown Cat
Ling Po had a ginger-colored cat,
not a very pretty one at that.
Near a window, he oft slept by day.
Nights he went out and far away.
Where in Chinatown did he go?
Ling Po really wanted to know.
Night after night Cat went
As if on a mission he’d been sent.
One warm and moonlit night,
Ling Po followed on Cat’s right.
Cat slid by cans for trash,
then Ling Po padded softly past.
He stayed a bit behind,
while Cat continued down the line.
Cat didn’t even seem to slow
when sirens began to blow.
On through dark and eerie streets,
Master and pet moved on silent feet.
Farther and farther, past store upon store.
Ling Po could not take much more!
Now, beyond temple and pagoda.
This Chinatown boy needed a soda.
Then, Cat stopped, looked all around
and crouched down close to the ground.
He lay there, green eyes peering
at an ancient man now nearing.
“There you are, my friend,” he fretted
“Come close to be petted.
Ling Po waited behind a car.
Was this the reason they’d come so far?
The Old One bent, pigtail swinging,
from Cat’s throat, a purr like singing.
Now Cat belonged to the pair,
for Ling Po knew he would share.
This cat who loved both young and old
was surely worth his weight in gold.
With patience, Ling Po watched the two,
no more than that could he do
until Cat turned to take his leave
and Ling Po followed him home with relief.
--Nancy Julien Kopp
Note: This narrative poem was published in Boys’ Quest magazine in June 2004
