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  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

  at all this morning.

  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

  Breakout

  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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