by Charles Waters

My dog controls
The weather.

When Fido barks
It hails,

When Fido’s quiet
It snows,

When Fido’s angry
It sleets,

When Fido’s happy …
R a i n b o w s.

Copyright © 2012 Charles Waters. From the book The Poetry Friday Anthologms for the School Year with Connections to the Common Core. Pomelo Books. Reprinted by permission of the author.

About this Poem

I have friends who are animal lovers so it was seeing their joy around these unique creatures that gave me the idea for this poem written years ago.  It’s not based on a particular animal per say but in any event I think Fido is pretty cool, I hope you do too!

Suggestions for further activities

Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell have suggestions for Common-Core curriculum activities related to this poem in the The Poetry Friday Anthology.

About The Author

Charles Waters’ poems appear in the following anthologies: Amazing Places (2014) edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins, The National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry edited by J. Patrick Lewis (former Children’s Poet Laureate of the United States), The Poetry Friday Anthology and The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School both edited Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, The Arrow Finds It’s Mark: A Book of Found Poems edited by Georgia Heard and And the Crowd Goes: A Global Gathering of Sports Poems edited by Carol-Ann Hoyte and Heidi Bee Roemer.  He performs his one man show POETRY TIME to elementary and middle school audiences and you can check out his youtube channel at www.youtube.com/thecharleswaters

Where to Buy this Book