POETRY Ocean Poems Written by Dina Anastasio www.readinga-z.com Ocean Poems A Reading A–Z Poetry Book • Word Count: 1,455 Visit www.readinga-z.com for thousands of books and materials Photo Credits: Cover, back cover, 3, 4, 5, (main, right inset), 7, (main), 10 (main), 12 (main), 13, 14, 15, 16 (main, left inset), 17, 18, 19 (main), 23 (inset), 24: © ArtToday; title page: © PhotoDisc; page (left inset): © NASA; page 8: © AFP/Getty Images; page 9: © Wonderfile; pages 10 (inset), 12 (inset), 23 (main): © Royalty-Free/CORBIS; pages 11, 19 (inset), page 16: © U.S Fish & Wildlife Service; page 22 (inset): © NOAA; page 21: © Ivor Fulcher/CORBIS Ocean Poems A ReadingA–Z Poetry Book © 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Written by Dina Anastasio All rights reserved www.readinga-z.com www.readinga-z.com Written by Dina Anastasio Ocean Poems Table of Contents Water, Water Everywhere Is the Sea Really Blue? Why Salt? .6 Making Waves Tsunamis The Hurricane 10 The Ins and Outs of Tides 12 Icebergs 13 Coral Reefs 14 Pollution 16 Layers 17 What’s the Difference? .18 On the Move 19 The Whys of Eyes 20 Whale Songs 22 Shifting Sands 24 Why does the Earth look so blue from up high? The astronauts see mostly blue from the sky What is the answer? What is the source? The blue that they see is water, of course About three-fourths of our planet is covered with seas, All linked together like the roots of some trees Are there four oceans or five? Not all experts agree The Pacific, Atlantic, and the cold Arctic Sea The fourth, we all know, is the Indian Ocean But some experts ponder a difficult notion Should the Antarctic be called an ocean as well? Perhaps yes Perhaps no Someone tell me, pray tell Water, Water Everywhere Is the Sea Really Blue? Is the water in the ocean really blue, Or is it the way that the sea looks to you? To understand blue, we must think of the light That shines from the sun from morning till night The light from the sun is made up of shades That shine on the sea like rainbow parades All colors but blue pass through the watery sea But blue bounces back at a greater degree So the color you see is part of the light That shines from the sun from morning till night As water flows in rivers, it swirls and twirls and vaults ’Round riverbeds and boulders, it gathers bits of salt The slightly salty rivers flow to the sea below, And there the salty water waits, moving to and fro The hot sun shines Aha, a caper! It steals the water, turns it to vapor But salt is heavy, and it remains And that’s the salt the sea contains Why Salt? Tsunamis (also called Tidal Waves) A tsunami’s a series of huge vicious waves, That can cause great destruction when the sea misbehaves They’re not caused by wind, as other waves are How these monsters begin is much more bizarre A very strong earthquake happens under the seas, Which can send out long waves past the beach and the trees The wave carries on, taking things in its path Then returns to the sea filled with muscle and wrath I like the beach when a strong wind is blowing, For the wind blows the waves, which keep growing and growing The wind moves the water at the top of the sea, Bringing high jumping waves to the beach just for me Sometimes I wish that the wind would blow faster, But not hard enough to cause a disaster For big storms and high winds, like a hurricane’s force Will create an impossible obstacle course Making Waves The Hurricane A hurricane without the sea would be a tiny storm, For hurricanes can’t gather strength without a sea that’s warm This storm is strange It’s backward spin is very hard to enter, But if you do, you’ll find an eye that’s peaceful at the center To be called a proper hurricane, the wind must spin and blow At 74 miles an hour Sometimes this storm can grow Into a mighty monster with fierce torrential rains That rips the trees and cracks the sky and breaks the windowpanes 10 The Ins and Outs of Tides Why those tides come in twice a day? Over and over they move in and away Will high tide roll in at seven, or noon? The answer lies deep in the pull of the moon Gravity keeps our feet firm on the ground It’s what stops us from flying and drifting around Well, the moon has a gravitational pull, too It’s so strong that it brings the tides in to you But then why the tides just come in twice a day? Each day the Earth rotates and the seas move away Two times a day the Earth and the moon Pull at each other, and somewhere a sea swoons 12 11 Coral Reefs Under warm waves where children are swimming A magnificent structure is growing and brimming Reef sharks and sponges and crabs call it home It’s the place where some sea snakes and shrimp like to roam A reef is a shelter where sea creatures connect It took millions and millions of years to erect Tiny creatures, called corals, live together, entwined When they die they leave hard, stony limestone behind Living corals latch on and the reef grows and grows It’s a glorious home for the creatures below A reef is a rainforest under the sea, Where groupers and turtles and clams like to be But coral is fragile We must treat it with care Don’t pollute it or touch it when you’re swimming down there 14 13 Up in the Arctic, where the world is quite cold, The snow never melts, or so I’ve been told Eons and eons of snow keeps on freezing, Snowing, and freezing It’s true, I’m not teasing Up there in that world, where it’s storming and storming, The snow packs together and a glacier starts forming As the glacier moves on, a chunk, maybe three, Floats off on its own in the cold Arctic Sea These are the icebergs Some are small, some are not The bottoms of icebergs are quite hard to spot So remember my friends, when you’re sailing through snow “The tip of the iceberg” hides a huge chunk below Icebergs Pollution When things pollute our lovely seas Do turtles shudder? Do dolphins sneeze? Do whales blow harder when they find An oil spill creeping close behind? When plastic wraps a small starfish, Does it twirl and swirl and flail and swish? And when those factories dump their waste Do lobsters really like that taste? Do sea snakes wonder as they roam Why people still pollute their home? 16 15 Layers Experts agree that the ocean has zones Filled with creatures and plant life and lots of unknowns Think of a rainforest There’s a variety of layers Each layer is filled with a variety of players Plants cannot live without sun that shines bright In the sea they are found at the top where it’s light Creatures surviving on plant life live here, For there’s plenty to eat and sunlight is near The layers below have less and less light Until, at the bottom, it’s as black as the night Down deep by the floor, where there isn’t a view, There are fish without eyes, for no light can get through 17 18 The whale is one mammal that lives in the ocean Like a human, its songs are filled with emotion It’s a warm blooded creature that gives birth to its young, And in order to live it breathes air through its lung Now, those fish over there, avoiding the whales, Are different from mammals in many details For fish are cold blooded, and they not breathe air They breathe through their gills and lay eggs here and there So how these mammals, these dolphins and whales, Live together with fish? That’s another long tale What’s the Difference? The Whys of Eyes Don’t dive into the ocean in search of footballfish Three thousand feet is much too deep No chance you’ll get your wish These round and eerie creatures live down where it is dark, Below the reef, below the whale, below the great white shark The footballfish has tiny eyes, for if you live down there No need to see It’s far too dark There’s blackness everywhere But not all creatures of the deep have eyes as small as mites The body of a vampire squid has tiny blinking lights That can be flicked whenever this squid is in the mood Its eyes are large It’s found a way to search for hidden food 20 19 Why whales travel far? Aren’t they happy where they are? I guess in winter when it’s cold They migrate south, or so I’m told I think the hungry whales conclude That in warm waters there’s more food I know another crucial reason Why whales go south to spend the season Southern seas are warm and nice, And better for their calves than ice On the Move Whale Songs The humpback whale sings lovely songs, From six to fifteen minutes long Some songs are roaring Some are groans Some are trills, or chirps, or moans Each song has phrases that repeat, Whale patterns sent out to greet Groups of phrases form a theme, A message sent out like a beam But here’s the strangest thing of all, When groups of humpbacks sing and call, Somehow each one just seems to know Exactly how each phrase should go 22 21 Shifting Sands Where does the beach get all of that sand? Does it come from the sea or down from the land? Does the tide bring it in, or does it float out? Does it ride on a wave that shifts it about? Well, sand is made up of small pieces of rock That’s been rained on and frozen and rolled and rocked It arrives on the beach from mountains and rivers, When the tide takes it out, it’s all grains, bits, and slivers 24 23 [...]... chirps, or moans Each song has phrases that repeat, Whale patterns sent out to greet Groups of phrases form a theme, A message sent out like a beam But here’s the strangest thing of all, When groups of humpbacks sing and call, Somehow each one just seems to know Exactly how each phrase should go 22 21 Shifting Sands Where does the beach get all of that sand? Does it come from the sea or down from the land?...The Whys of Eyes Don’t dive into the ocean in search of footballfish Three thousand feet is much too deep No chance you’ll get your wish These round and eerie creatures live down where it is dark, Below the reef, below the whale, below the ... (inset), page 16: © U.S Fish & Wildlife Service; page 22 (inset): © NOAA; page 21: © Ivor Fulcher/CORBIS Ocean Poems A ReadingA–Z Poetry Book © 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company... Anastasio All rights reserved www.readinga-z.com www.readinga-z.com Written by Dina Anastasio Ocean Poems Table of Contents Water, Water Everywhere ... roots of some trees Are there four oceans or five? Not all experts agree The Pacific, Atlantic, and the cold Arctic Sea The fourth, we all know, is the Indian Ocean But some experts ponder a difficult