Wednesday, April 7, 2010

For Day 7, I thought I'd turn to one of the more prolific children's poets out there, Colin McNaughton.

An adapted bit of fun:

Monday's Child is Red and Spotty
Monday's child is red and spotty,
Tuesday's child won't use the potty.
Wednesday's child won't go to bed,
Thursday's child will not be fed.
Friday's child breaks all his toys,
Saturday's child makes an awful noise.
And the child that's born on the seventh day
Is a pain in the neck like the rest, OK!

And an inspired original:

The Lesson
"Blether, blather, blah-blah, bosh.
Claptrap, humbug, poppycock, tosh.
Guff, flap-doodle, gas and gabble.
Hocus pocus, gibberish, babble.
Baloney, hooey, jabber, phew,
Stuff and nonsense, drivel, moo.
Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb, banter.
Prattle, waffle, rave and ranter.
Rubbish, piffle, tommy-rot, guff,
Twaddle, bilge, bombast, bluff.
      Thank you."

--Colin McNaughton



from There's an Awful Lot of Weirdos in Our Neighborhood & Other Wickedly Funny Verse, by Colin McNaughton. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1987.

When Hallowe'en comes around you can also take a peek at his Making Friends With Frankenstein: A Book of Monstrous Poems and Pictures (Candlewick, 1994) in which you'll find this brief gem:

Speak of the Devil,
Meet Cousin Neville!

(Note: when quoting poems online, always include a full citation for the collection from which the poem originated. If the poem is not in the public domain (i.e. is still in copyright) abide by the principle of Fair Dealing in your use of the work.)

3 comments:

  1. My picky eaters were both born on Thursday!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jenifer: My Wednesday's child would stay up all night if I let her.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hmm. The Bun hasn't broken his toys YET, but it may be coming... I enjoy that first one.

    ReplyDelete

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