Children's Poems

SICK - by Shel Silverstein
"I cannot go to school today,"Said little Peggy Ann McKay,"I have the measles and the mumps,A gash, a rash, and purple bumps.My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,I'm going blind in my right eye.My tonsils are as big as rocks,I've counted sixteen chicken poxAnd there's one more--that's seventeen,And don't you think my face looks green?My leg is cut, my eyes are blue--It might be instamatic flu.I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,I'm sure that my left leg is broke--My hip hurts when I move my chin,My belly button's caving in,My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,My 'pendix pains each time it rains.My nose is cold, my toes are numb,I have a sliver in my thumb.My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,I hardly whisper when I speak.My tongue is filling up my mouth,I think my hair is falling out.My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,My temperature is one-o-eight.My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,There is a hole inside my ear.I have a hangnail, and my heart is--what?What's that? What's that you say?You say today is---Saturday?G'bye, I'm going out to play!"

This is one of my all time favorite poems. Shel Silverstein has wrtten several books that fill the pages with beautifully humorous poems such as the one above. This specific poem reveals the humour that children love, and relates very well to kids themselves. Every child fibs about a sickness everyonce in awhile if it gets them out of a day of school! This poem says it all, makes up every possible thing that could go wrong, thus maybe even creating some new excuses for the future. This particular type of poem can be classified as a nonsense poem, touched off by a sense of humor at the end. Most of Shel Silversteins poems are the same, relatively made up of somehting that could potentially make no sense and of course hysterically funny. Therefore making kids enjoy reading them! Not only does Mr. Silverstein write poems, but has a talent for novels as well. ONe of my previous blogs was about "The Giving Tree", a book written by him. I have always loved reading his poems because I know they have a way to cheer me up on a gloomy day.