Q: When did you first start writing?

A: I always loved to write. I published my first story, "My Cat Felix", when I was in second grade. It was about our pet cat who acted like a dog, trotting after my Dad every morning to pick up the paper. Felix was always getting into trouble, like the time he dumped over a can of paint and tracked green paw prints through our house.

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“Once again, Antarctica has been named
the windiest continent on Earth”
-Zephyr Times

Wow. This is so exciting. There are so many friends
I want to mention who helped me
along the way--

first, to my flora and fauna
thanks for putting up with me all these years.
Penguins Emperor and Adelie, you’ve
stood strong, braved blowing snow
and blizzards that would freeze your innards.
The algae, moss, lichen and liverwort, whole colonies
of microbes thriving in my ice sheets. You may be small,
but you’ve been around, like, 2,000 centuries!
Way to hang in there, guys! And how about
my flipper-flappin, barkin buddies, the seals,
plus all eight species of whales, and-- Great
Gilled Glycopeptides-- let’s not forget
those awesome, anti-freeze fish—you’ve taken
winter swimming to a whole, new level.

Finally, for helping me prevail as the windiest
continent on the planet, special thanks to my latitudes
20-60 degrees south, my circumpolar trough, the temperature
inversions on my Polar Plateau, and of course,
those wild boys, the Katabatic Winds, whose drag races
down my coastal slopes produce a mean
annual speed of 50 mph and who, I am proud to say,
have reached a personal best
of 200 mph over Commonwealth Bay.
Talk about your gale force!

Anyway, you guys are the best.
I love you all, man.
I couldn’t have done this without you!

-Ellen A. Kelley

You can try writing a poem about a place that does its own talking, too. What would YOUR place say? What sort of personality would it have?

Watch for more poems and writing ideas from Ellen on Kids' Clicks.