Unusual Poem Feb. 22

Introduction: Use this as an introduction to reflection in your science class or math class. Put it on the ELMO or use a transparency to show how the poem looks. Explain that this is a mirror image.

This is a backward poem (or reflection).

I Am Your Mirror Image
By: Jack Prelutsky

egamI rorriM ruoY mA I

,egamI rorriM ruoY mA I
od I gnihtyreve dna
noitcelfer tcaxe na si
.uoy yb enod s’taht lla fo
,od uoy nehw evom ylno I
.pots I, llits era uoy nehw
,gnola piks ot erus m’I ,piks uoY
.poh osla I ,poh uoy
,wodahs ruoy ekil uoy htiw m’I
.tfed dna ,tfiws ,eliga m’I
,dnah thgir ruoy htiw erutseg uoY
.tfel ym htiw uoy hctam I
,yppah era uoy nehw hgual I
,yrc I ,das era uoy nehw
,em ta eye knilb uoy fi dna
.ylper ym si knilb a

,egami rorrim ruoy ma I
.ereh er’uoy nehw tneserp m’I
,tnesba era uoy tnemom ehT
.raeppasid ot erus m’I
ecnetsixe rouy no tnuoc I
…desrever efil rouy evil dna
gniht elgnis a od reven I
.tsrif ti od uoy sselnu

[from A PIZZA THE SIZE OF THE SUN (Greenwillow 1996)]

I Am Your Mirror Image
By: Jack Prelutsky

I am your mirror image
and everything I do
is an exact reflection
of all that’s done by you.
I only move when you do,
when you are still, I stop.
You skip, I’m sure to skip along,
You hop, I also hop.
I’m with you like your shadow,
I’m agile, swift, and deft.
You gesture with your right hand,
I match you with my left.
I laugh when you are happy,
when you are sad, I cry
and if you blink an eye at me,
a blink is my reply.

I am your mirror image,
I’m present when you’re here.
The moment you are absent,
I’m sure to disappear.
I count on your existence
and live your life reversed…
I never do a single thing
unless you do it first.

Extension: Let the students use mirrors to visually see that the images really are mirror images. Then have them read the poem.

Then continue with science lesson on reflection or refraction or math lesson with translation, rotation, reflection.