I'm a Poet

Summary
Fern challenges everyone to enter a poetry contest judged by Jack Prelutsky, and anyone who doesn't win has to join the Poetry Club for a whole year.

Plot
Arthur begins the show by reading the poem "My Sister is a Sissy" by Jack Prelutsky, with visual examples of D.W. being scared of things.

I'm a Poet

The episode begins in Mr. Ratburn's classroom, where Mr. Ratburn announces the poetry contest at the library and that Fern is the only one who has signed up. Francine, Binky, and Rattles mock Fern for being a poet, and she gets mad and says that they're only making fun of her because they can't write poetry.

After school, Arthur and his friends argue over who can write the best poem. Fern makes a bet that they all have to write a poem by the time of the contest, which is tomorrow, and submit it, or else they have to join the poetry club for a year. The kids accept the bet.

Arthur and Buster decide that they have to read a poem they like and write one like it. They try reading Edgar Allan Poe, which they enjoy. The next day, at the cafeteria, Arthur and Buster learn that Brain and Muffy have already finished their poems. Fern reminds everyone that their poems have to be done by tomorrow.

Arthur struggles to write his poem, although Buster is already done. When he goes to Fern's house to ask for help, Arthur later learns that Buster is lying and he is already there. Fern teaches them that they have to write about what they like instead of copying someone else's poems.

Jack Prelutsky reads "Today is Very Boring" to introduce the contest. Fern goes and reads her poem, and is followed up by Francine with "Hockey Puck Headache." Binky then reads "Binky's Poem," which Fern says is "great." Buster goes up to read a poem about nauseating things. After this, Arthur runs in to read "Jimmy Goes to the City."

Everyone enjoys the poems and wants to sign up for poetry club anyways. Francine gets a sign-up sheet. The episode finishes with Prelutsky reading one of his own poems, "Jelly Fish Stew."

Major

 * Fern Walters
 * Jack Prelutsky
 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Francine Frensky
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Binky Barnes

Minor

 * Paige Turner
 * The Brain
 * Rattles
 * Nigel Ratburn
 * D.W. Read

Cameo

 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * George Lundgren
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Alex
 * Maria Pappas
 * Luke
 * Helen
 * Nancy
 * John
 * Sarah
 * Edwin
 * Lucy
 * Mary
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3)

Trivia

 * Moral: Dont force people to like poetry for your own personal benefit.

Cultural references

 * Poet Jack Prelutsky was the first celebrity who voiced himself on Arthur. Unlike later guest stars he looks more like a regular character than his human self.
 * This episode uses real-life poems by Jack Prelutsky. They are, in order, "My Sister is a Sissy," "Today is Very Boring," and "Jelly Fish Stew."
 * In the library, Buster reads "The Walrus and the Carpenter" by Lewis Carroll.
 * The line "something better than his dog, a little dearer than his horse" is from "Locksley Hall" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
 * "It was the dead who groaned within" is a line from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Sleeper."
 * Arthur recites a line from "Paul Revere’s Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
 * Jimmy climbing the skyscraper in Arthur's poem looks a lot like the famous Empire State Building scene from the movie 

Differences from the book

 * In Arthur's poem, the ape's name is Jimmy, but in the chapter book based on the episode, the ape's name is Joey.