I'm so late for Poetry Wednesday! We've been having fun for a week or so. Last weekend, my sister and brother-in-law came to visit all the way from Mexico. Just for the weekend. It was so nice of them. They may have had a camp to go to in Iowa, but I prefer to think they flew all the way up just to spend Father's Day with us. Pictures will be posted soon, I think.
On Monday my sister left and on Tuesday we got a new house guest. Lola is staying with us for a few days while her family is at a conference in Chicago. Lola is a sweet and loving house guest, she's always happy to see us, she doesn't eat too much, and she does not pee on the floor. All important traits, considering our other guest sometimes has trouble with those things. Lola has made herself at home as you can see in the picture above. (Sorry it's not so good, my camera just died and this picture is from my phone. Technology! Crazy stuff.) We started the day with lots of rules. No Lola on the couch. No Lola upstairs. And NO Lola on the beds. Oh, how quickly we caved. We are enjoying her immensely.
All that to say, I don't have any deep poems today. I have been reading "The Golden Book of Fun and Nonsense" with the kids and it has some truly disturbing poems. Following is a series of four Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes, as they are called, written by Harry Graham under a pen name. They are crazy and ruthless and make us giggle.
Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes
Col. D. Streamer
Billy, in one of his nice, new sashes,
Fell in the fire and was burnt to ashes.
Now, although the room grows chilly,
I haven't the heart to poke up Billy.
*****
"There's been an accident," they said.
"Your servant's cut in half. He's dead!"
"Indeed!" said Mr. Jones. "And please
Send me the half that's got my keys."
*****
Father heard his children scream,
So he threw them in the stream,
Saying, as he drowned the third,
"Children should be seen, not heard!"
*****
In the drinking well
Which the plumber built her,
Aunt Eliza fell.
We must buy a filter.
7 comments:
Some of the wonderful "nursery rhymes" of yesteryear are truly horrible, aren´t they? But fun! And even horrible, they make us laugh! I´m sure your kids enjoy these!
What a sweet dog! Almost as sweet as Peanut!
I think the last one's my favorite! And that title, "Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes," is very Roald Dahl-ish. : ) I'm glad you have Lola around to entertain the troops on this stormy afternoon!
Some of those are "verses" Dad used to sing us to "On the Dummy Line"! I'm going to have to look these up so I can sing that song to my kids! =)
By the way, yup, we came up only to visit you . . . the camp was just extra! =)
How entertainingly irreverent! I love them!
I do think my favorite poems (perhaps the only poetry I truly understand?) are children's poems.
Thanks for the laugh!
~Michelle
Thank goodness you don't feel the need to post a 'deep' poem every week, I think that would be dull and missing the point. I often post things people think are 'serious' but that's just because I'm odd and like to read serious things. But it always makes me happy to read your Poetry Wednesday choices because more often than not I've never heard of them before. Like Molly I was reminded of Roald Dahl. Very funny!
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