Pelicans

I watch a line of pelicans slip sleekly through the sky.
They always look so elegant when flying way up high.

But when they land, their elegance gets lost without a trace;
it seems a pack of bumbling clowns is waddling in their place.

© Kristin Martin 2018

This poem was first published in Blast Off, Issue No. 2, The School Magazine, March 2018, and then was published again in my poetry book, To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme? (Glimmer Press, 2019).

67 thoughts on “Pelicans

    • Hi Nuwin,

      It is a short poem, but I have some that are just as short, or shorter. This one took a long time to write- it was actually a year from when I started it to when I finished it! I didn’t give up until I had it perfect.

      Kristin

  1. Hi Kristin,
    I love pelicans! When we went out for my little brother’s birthday, we saw a few pelicans! Thank you for writing poems so we can read them!

  2. Hi Kristin,
    I love how this poem has facts but written with fun words! I love pelicans they always seem so elegant in the sky but when they land they make me laugh! What made you write this poem? It was no mistake!

    Love Clara

  3. Hi Kristin
    I like the this poem about pelicans and pelicans are big and nice birds
    with their big beaks. I really loved the poem very much.

  4. Hi Kristin
    Your poem was amazing, except i think it would be better to do it a bit longer next time. Then you can explain more about it. i am sure you must have written it in two minutes
    I liked when u wrote bumbling clown. It sounds so funny. Have u seen pelicans before.
    If u put the last words in the two lines in para 1 together u get ‘sky high’.

    best regards
    senehas

    • Hi Senehas,

      Did you know that sometimes short poems are harder to write than longer ones, because every word has to be perfect! You are not right about this taking me 2 minutes to write, it actually took me one year!!! I did not spend that whole year writing it, of course, and I wrote lots of other poems in that year, but it was a year from when I started it until when I finished it.

      Kristin

  5. Hi Kristin
    I am truely scared of pelicans are you?
    Also I think this poem was hilarious but really true and I liked how you described them as bumbling clowns!
    Lithumi

  6. Dear Kristin,
    this poem was really descriptive️‍♀️️‍♀️️‍♀️. I went on a house boat trip, and we saw lot and lots of pelicans eating fish they were dipping their beaks in the water so fast ⏩

    regards Tirath.

  7. Hi Kristin
    I found it really funny at the end when you said “it seems a pack of bumbling clowns is waddling in their place.” This reminded me of the saying cats land on their feet. What inspired you to write this poem? I don’t like any sort of birds because they creep me out the way they turn their heads!!!!!!!!
    Yenuli

  8. Hi Kristin
    I think this poem was hilarious but really true. I loved your description and I liked how you described them as bumbling clowns! Do you like pelicans? I personally don’t, as they are kind of scary!
    Tharusha

  9. Hi Kristin
    I liked that you said pelicans looked so fancy or perfect. But when they get in water the really look like complete weirdos when they land in the water. All this is completely true and really funny when someone explains it in every single detail. Thanks for the great poem.

    • Hi Dinith,

      I really like how you put the ideas from my poem into your own words. Did you know that this little poem took me a year to finish? I had trouble finding the right rhythm for a long time.

      Kristin

  10. Hi Kristin
    I like this poem because it is true, when pelicans fly they look elegant and when they are on land they look like there clowns because they are very very clumsy

    • Hi Caleb,

      I’m glad you agree with my observation. It took me a very long time to get this poem just right. I knew what I wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t co-operate!

      Kristin

  11. Hi Kristen
    I really enjoyed that poem because it had really good words that
    describe the way the pelican moves.

  12. I think pelicans are weird but that is just mainly my problem. Pelicans do look elegant when they fly in fact any bird looks elegant when they fly in the blue sky, don’t you think? What made you write this? I am guessing that you were at the beach and you saw some pelicans flying about in the Sky so you thought “Why don’t I write a poem about them?”.

    Thisali

  13. hello Kristin

    I really like this poem
    I love where u said they were like a pack of bumbling clown
    I enjoy looking for pelicans on family trips
    from Kiara

    • Hi Kristin
      I really love this poem and totally agree with you! They look so elegant when flying, then bumbling clowns come in their place! I really love the description. Do you have any tips for when I am writing a poem? I’m not very good!

      Tharusha

        • Hi Kiara,

          I like that line too. It took me a long time to think of it (this poem took me almost a year to write. Of course, I wasn’t working on it for that long, it was a year between when I started it and when I finished it.).

          Kristin

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