Thursday, April 14, 2011

Ode to a Mathemetician

It is the birthday of a certain mathematician friend today. It is also Poem in Your Pocket Day. I thought I'd post a few potential pocket fillers in her honor.

The Acrobats
by Shel Silverstein

I'll swing
By my ankles,
She'll cling
To your knees
As you hang
By your nose
From a high-up
Trapeze.
But just one thing, please,
As we float through the breeze -
Don't sneeze.

Smart
by Shel Silverstein

My dad gave me one dollar bill
'Cause I'm his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'Cause two 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 gave 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!

My Rules
by Shel Silverstein

If you want to marry me, here's what you'l have to do:
You must learn how to make a perfect chicken-dumpling stew.
And you must sew my holey socks,
And soothe my troubled mind,
And develop the knack for scratching my back,
And keep my shoes spotlessly shined.
And while I rest you must rake up the leaves,
And when it is hailing and snowing
You must shovel the walk...and be still when I talk,
And - hey - where are you going?

Happy birthday, my friend!
xo
Kizz

3 comments:

  1. I love "Smart." I might use that to unteach a few things here. And "My Rules"...whooboy. I've been married to that one. Shel Silverstein rocks.

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  2. Anonymous11:32 PM

    Nothing better than Shel, one was even recited at our wedding. Wasn't Smart though. My fave is the one about spitting from the 26th floor ... tied with the beard-to-my-toes one. D just discovered Edward Gorey yesterday too, another delight.
    Happy Birthday!

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  3. Funny, until the two of you commented right next to each other I didn't realize that you should know each other. Marathons, smart kids, poetry. I think you'd have things to discuss.

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