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Today Is Not a Good Day
Distracted, the Mother Said to Her Boy
I'm Going to Say I'm Sorry
I Have No Trouble Sharing
Soon
Insides
Grandma's Kisses
My Baby Brother
Smart
My Three Aunts
A Baby Brother
Public Speaking
Fast Food
Molly Peters
Little Jimmy Dawson
There Was an Old Woman
Betty Botter
Hickory, Dickory, Dock!
Row, Row Row Your Boat
A New Friend
The Alien
The Last Day of School
Ebonee
They Were My People
Happy Birthday Card
Burglar
Seaside
September Is
Distracted, the mother said to her boy,
"Do you try to upset and perplex and annoy?
Now, give me four reasons - - and don't play the fool - -
why you shouldn't get up and get ready for school."
Her son replied slowly, "Well, mother, you see,
I can't stand the teachers and they detest me;
and there isn't a boy or a girl in the place
that I like or, in turn, that delights in my face."
"And I'll give you two reasons," she said, "why you ought
get yourself off to school before you get caught;
because, first, you are forty, and, next, you young fool,
it's your job to be there.
You're the head of the school."
I'm going to say I'm sorry.
It's time for this quarrel to end.
I know that we both didn't mean it
and each of us misses a friend.
It isn't much fun being angry
and arguing's just the worst,
so I'm going to say I'm sorry . . .
just as soon as you say it first!
I have no trouble sharing - -
here, take my dirty sock,
while I just ride your scooter
all up and down the block.
And then I'll play your banjo,
your diamond-studded drum,
and you can share my cookie,
at least this little crumb.
I'll share the wrappers from my
three yummy candy bars,
then I'll play with your spacement
from Jupiter and Mars.
I have no trouble sharing
my teenie pencil stub,
while I take all your bath toys
to play with in the tub.
My momma says I've trouble
with sharing - - it's not true - -
I'll eat up all your cupcakes -
here, hold my worn-out shoe.
I think a kid like me is
so very, very rare.
A kid that has no trouble
with knowing how to share.
Soon I'll do the supper dishes,
sweep the carpet, feed the fishes,
clear the closet, take the dogs out,
do my homework, sort my rocks out,
clip my toenails, take a shower,
put away my two-foot tower,
file my records, clean my speakers,
shine my shoes and air my sneakers,
pick up socks and shirts and laces,
pack my cards in special cases,
dust my desk and all that's in it,
brush my teeth for one whole minute,
stack my comic-book collections,
call you in for room inspection.
But right now I'm really busy
and I'm starting to feel dizzy.
So I'll do what you requested,
just as soon as I'm well-rested.
I'm very grateful to my skin
for keeping all my insides in - -
I do so hate to think about
what I would look like inside-out.
They're the biggest, wet, juiciest kisses in town.
When she get you, you think that you're going to drown.
My brother and I always argue the worst
to make sure Grandma kisses the other one first.
Oh no, here she come! Quick, let's dodge the explosion!
Too late! What a kiss! That's no kiss, thetas an ocean.
My baby brother is so small,
he hasn't even learned to crawl.
He's only be around a week,
and all he seems to do is bawl
and wiggle, sleep . . and leak.
My dad gave me one dollar bill
'cause I'm his smartest son,
and I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'cause tow is more than one!
And then I took the quarters
and traded them to Lou
for three dimes - - I guess he don't know
that three is more than two!
Just then, along came old blind Bates
and just 'cause he can't see
he game me four nickels for my three dimes,
and four is more than three!
And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
down at the seed-feed store,
and the fool gave me five pennies for them,
and five is more than four!
And then I went and showed my dad,
and he got red in the cheeks
and closed his eyes and shook his head - -
too proud of me to speak!
Aunt Patty pinches cheeks so hard
It leaves a dark red patch.
Aunt Mary makes me kiss her face,
which always has a rash.
Aunt Peggy pats my head so long
I feel like my dog Rover.
I hate it when my three aunts call
to say they're coming over.
I have a baby brother;
they brought him home last week.
He doesn't talk or play with me . . .
all he does is sleep.
Mom said that I could hold him.
I thought that might be fun;
but all he does is stare at me . . .
I think he's kinda dumb.
Some say he looks like daddy.
Some say he looks like me.
I think they all need glasses . . .
he's bald as he can be.
If this is what a baby's like,
I think we'd be ahead
to try and get a refund . .
and buy a dog instead.
Today's the school speech contest.
I feel a little sick.
I hat to talk in front of crowds,
but I've a little trick.
I picture the whole audience
is sitting right out there
without a stitch of clothing on
except their underwear.
It's easy then to read or talk
when all the while I'm peeking.
Just try it if you are like me
and don't like public speaking.
Some witches by the roadside
are selling fast-food snacks,
big bubbling warthog pizzas
and dumplings filled with tacks.
They stir things in a caldron
and slap them on a dish,
hot pimple-breaded lizards
and moldy cactus fish.
Some gooey red-eyed fritters
all rolled in spider dough,
some slippery dragon molars,
and boiled fish bones to go.
They're cooking up some freckles
and bats they plucked from caves.
They're using giant caldrons,
they're using microwaves.
They're giving plastic chopsticks,
and you don't have to wait.
They're serving green slime gravy
on worms that palpitate.
And if you're really lucky,
they'll serve you some dessert.
It's something cold and oozy,
on squirming bug-filled dirt.
Little Molly Peters
stuck her finger up her nose.
She pulled it out, examined it,
and wiped it on her clothes.
Now Molly is a lovely girl,
that's really not the issue.
But she will have no friends until
she learns to use a tissue.
Now Jimmy Dawson's hearing
was surely most acute.
He'd hear a lint piece falling
from off his father's suit.
He'd hear the flowers growing,
and two cottonballs collide,
the sound of puddles drying - -
it kept him occupied.
When listening to a conch shell,
he heard, not just the sea,
but pearls in oysters forming,
as clear as clear could be.
He'd hear a pimple blossom
upon his sister's face - -
and hear a new sun rising,
light traveling through space.
But then a strange thing happened - -
his mom called him in from play.
Then Jimmy's perfect hearing
completely went away.
There was an old woman
who lived in a shoe;
with so many children
what else could she do?
Their home had no windows,
no doors, and no locks - -
the kids were all happy
but smelled like old socks.
Betty Botter
bought some butter.
"But," she said,
"the butter's bitter.
If I put it
in my batter,
it will make
my batter bitter.
But a bit
of better butter - -
that would make
my batter better."
So she bought
a bit of butter,
better than
her bitter butter.
And she put it
in her batter,
and the batter
was not bitter.
So 'twas better
Betty Botter
bought a bit
of better butter!
Hickory, dickory, dock!
A goat just ate my sock.
The took my shirt
for his dessert.
Hickory, dickory, dock!
Row, row, row your boat,
gently down the stream,
until you hit the waterfall - -
when you'll start to scream.
They've taken in the furniture;
I watched them carefully.
I wondered, "Will there be a child
Just right to play with me?"
So I peeked through the garden fence
(I couldn't wait to see).
I found the little boy next door
Was peeking back at me.
The alien
Was round as the moon
Five legs he had
And his ears played a tune.
His hair was pink
And his knees were green,
He was the funniest thing I'd seen.
As he danced in the door
Of his strange spacecraft,
He looked at me - -
And laughed and laughed!
On the last day of school
I was tickled to bits.
I hopped on my desk
and had six sorts of fits.
I was so glad to see
my vacation begin
that I practically wriggled
right out of my skin.
I rolled on the floor
and I leaped through the air.
I honked like a goose
and I roared like a bear.
I wiggled my ears
and I brayed like a mule,
that's what I did
on the last day of school.
All this hoopla
so much noise
just 'cause a girl's on the team
with us boys
People excited
clapping hands
calling EBONEE! EBONEE!
back and forth in the stands
Ebonee sits on the bench
quiet all the while
helmet pulled down over cornrows
and not one smile
Cute somebody called her
this week past
cute, I don't know
what Ebonee is - - is fast
Ebonee's magic
does everything right
a running back
who's outta sight
They were those who cut cane
to the rhythm of the sunbeat
They were those who carried cane
to the rhythm of the sunbeat
They were those who crushed cane
to the rhythm of the sunbeat
They were women weeding, carrying babies
to the rhythm of the sunbeat
They were my people, working so hard
to the rhythm of the sunbeat - - long ago
to the rhythm of the sunbeat.
H appy birthday all of us say
A nd may you have a lovely day.
P lenty of nice dreams!
P resents and ice creams!
Y ucky buns!
B est of fun!
I nteresting invitations!
R ailway stations!
T elly and trips!
H amburgers and chips! BUT
D o not get a cough (if)
A nd I hope your knees fall off (if)
Y ou forget mine
Rain
Creeps
Upon my rooftop
Like a burglar
In the night.
Runs fingers
Round my windows,
Finding everything
Shut tight.
Startled
when the morning dawns,
it dangles from the eaves,
Drops
d
o
w
n,
Sneaking away
Without a sound,
Leaving small
Footprints
on
the
Ground.
Sand in the sandwiches,
Sand in the tea,
Flat, wet sand running
Down to the sea.
Pools full of seaweed,
Shells and stones,
Damp bathing suits
And ice-cream cones.
Waves pouring in
To a sand-castle moat.
Mend the defences!
Now we're afloat!
Water's for splashing,
Sand is for play,
A day by the sea
Is the best kind of day.
September is
when yellow pencils
in brand new eraser hats
bravely wait on perfect points - -
ready to march across miles of lines
in empty notebooks - -
and September is
when a piece of chalk
skates across the board - -
swirling and looping - -
until it spells your new teacher's
name.
Last modified: March 1, 2017. Copyright © 2000 - Marjorie Duby.
All rights reserved.