Wednesday 10 November 2010

Two early children's poems...In my Day / Henry

Well, not exactly for children, but with a certain childish delight. I have been using my Facebook profile to put up poems from this particular series that I wrote to drawings by daughter Helen when she was just a wee slip of a very little girl. But the profile status has very limited space allowing for only the briefest of the poems, so here are two of those too long to fit on Facebook. Some others will follow. Helen's drawings came first. These two are more nonsense than anything, the second a touch noir:


IN MY DAY

In my Day

In my day, a gentleman (she said)
Would wear a tartan sock over his head
And stuff two buttered muffins in his ears.

And I myself would ride to town with clocks
Attached to both my elbows. (Alas, the clocks
Have long stopped ticking.) I'd sit in my box
And throw live rabbits at Sir Henry Beerbohm Tree
And he would gently lob them back at me.

I do think the gentlemen looked gallant with muffins in their ears..
How wonderful and gay it was, my dears.



HENRY

Henry

Henry! she remarked,
It's months since you have had your ankles barked.

Henry! Henry! she hinted,
I do think you should have your eyeballs squinted.

Henry! Henry! Henry! she implored,
Do go out and get your fingers scored.

Henry! Henry! Henry! Henry! she desperately pleaded,
Haven't I always told you what you needed?

All all, all, all, all in vain.
Henry stood in disdain
And pondered heavy dark thoughts in his brain.



4 comments:

Setty Lepida said...

Hi George, it's been quite some time, yes?
OH I LOVE THE HENRY POEM, and a bit limmerickish too.
Coming to Greece any time soon? I'd love to see you. All my best !

Mark Granier said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mark Granier said...

These are delightful George; their humor and strangeness remind me of the cockeyed aplomb of Stevie Smith. And they compliment the superb drawings beautifully (the first of which is more Gormenghast than Stevie Smith). If there's enough of them they should definitely get published!

George S said...

Hello, Setty! How are you? What are you doing? No Greek plans in the near future, alas, though it would be nice of course. I have a book coming out in Italy which is the closest I'll get.

Thank you, Mark. I do have a fondness for these things,and have a feeling they're good in their way. Of course when I offered them to one or two children's publishers I was given to understand that they didn't fit age group X-Y or any one particular Key Stage, so they were dead in the water. I have to admit they are right. The only Key Stage they fit is my own, which does however seem to range from age 5 to a little over a hundred. It's very confusing.