Jack Prelutsky

I look for poetry in English because it's the only language I read.

— Jack Prelutsky

I've been influenced by poets as diverse as Dylan Thomas, Lewis Carroll, and Edgar Allan Poe.

— Jack Prelutsky

Then I decided to draw from and on my own imagination, and everything came out perfect.

— Jack Prelutsky

The sound of a word is at least as important as the meaning.

— Jack Prelutsky

A poet is not something you become; a poet is something you are.

— Jack Prelutsky

We all need ways to express ourselves, and poetry is one of mine.

— Jack Prelutsky

I'm mostly influenced by life, what's around me, and my own childhood.

— Jack Prelutsky

I would go to sketch groups and draw. I really enjoyed the subject matter, but I wasn't good at it.

— Jack Prelutsky

Writing gives me the opportunity to explore ideas, play with language, solve problems, use my imagination, and draw on my own childhood.

— Jack Prelutsky

Children seem naturally drawn to poetry - it's some combination of the rhyme, rhythm, and the words themselves.

— Jack Prelutsky

My reading is extremely eclectic. Lately I've been teaching myself computer graphics, so I'm reading a lot about that. I read books…

— Jack Prelutsky

Poetry seems to sink into us the way prose doesn't. I can still quote verses I learned when I was very young,…

— Jack Prelutsky

There's not too much difference between writing a picture book and writing a collection of a hundred poems or so, except that…

— Jack Prelutsky

The BALLPOINT PENGUINS, black and white, Do little else but write and write. Although they've nothing much to say, They write and…

— Jack Prelutsky

She comes by night, in fearsome flight, in garments black as pitch, the queen of doom upon her broom, the wild and…

— Jack Prelutsky

His blood is black and boiling hot, he gurgles ghastly groans. He'll cook you in his dinner pot, your skin, your flesh,…

— Jack Prelutsky

I invented animals and birds - I had about two dozen. After working on them for six months, I sat down and…

— Jack Prelutsky

After I'd produced about two dozen pen and ink drawings, one evening I decided that they needed poems to accompany them. I…

— Jack Prelutsky

“We Built a Castle Near the Rocks, we built it out of sand. Our fortress was an ice-cream box with turret, tall…

— Jack Prelutsky

It's Halloween! It's Halloween! The moon is full and bright And we shall see what can't be seen On any other night.…

— Jack Prelutsky

“I often repeat repeat myself, I often repeat repeat. I don't don't know why know why, I simply know that I I…

— Jack Prelutsky

I always knew would be some sort of artist, but didn't know what.

— Jack Prelutsky

I accept challenges, I have always done that in writing.

— Jack Prelutsky

I'm usually working on eight or 10 things at once.

— Jack Prelutsky

My wife used to tell me one of my best qualities was that my feet don't smell, but I remember my brother's…

— Jack Prelutsky

When I began writing, I didn't read any other children's poets... I didn't want to be influenced until I'd found my own…

— Jack Prelutsky

Otherwise I don't read much adult poetry at all, because I'm not smart enough and mostly I don't get it.

— Jack Prelutsky

If you don't believe in dragons, It is curiously true That the dragons you disparage Choose to not believe in you.

— Jack Prelutsky

Frankly, writing poetry for children is plain old fun, and I consider myself blessed to have such a delightful career.

— Jack Prelutsky

I'm working now on a collection of Shakespearean sonnets, about 100 of them, that I may publish if anyone's interested. My take…

— Jack Prelutsky

I write the poems first, with only a few exceptions for odd reasons, where I'm given the illustration first.

— Jack Prelutsky

“You’re nasty and you’re loud, you’re mean enough for two, If I could be a cloud, I’d rain all day on you.”

— Jack Prelutsky

I keep a guitar around while writing and will improvise music. I do this for several reasons, such as that it's fun,…

— Jack Prelutsky

In masks and gown we haunt the street And knock on doors for trick or treat Tonight we are the king and…

— Jack Prelutsky