Where The Sidewalk Ends

INVITATION

If you are a dreamer, come in.

If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,

A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer…

If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire

For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.

Come in!

Come in!

THE
ACROBATS

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.

MAGIC

Sandra’s seen a leprechaun,

Eddie touched a troll,

Laurie danced with witches once,

Charlie found some goblins’ gold.

Donald heard a mermaid sing,

Susy spied an elf.

But all the magic I have known

I’ve had to make myself.

HOMEMADE
BOAT

This boat that we just built is just fine-

And don’t try to tell us it’s not.

The sides and the back are divine-

It’s the bottom I guess we forgot….

I
MUST
REMEMBER

I must remember …

Turkey on Thanksgiving,

Pudding on Christmas,

Eggs on Easter,

Chicken on Sunday,

Fish on Friday,

Leftovers, Monday.

But ah, me-I’m such a dunce.

I went and ate them all at once.

THE
FOURTH

Oh

CRASH!

my

BASH!

it’s

BANG!

the

ZANG!

Fourth

WHOOSH!

of

BAROOOM!

July

WHEW!

ICKLE
ME,
PICKLE
ME,
TICKLE
ME
TOO

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too

Went for a ride in a flying shoe.

“Hooray!”

“What fun!”

“It’s time we flew!”

Said Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.

Ickle was captain, and Pickle was crew

And Tickle served coffee and mulligan stew

As higher

And higher

And higher they flew,

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.

Over the sun and beyond the blue.

“Hold on!”

“Stay in!”

“I hope we do!”

Cried Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too

Never returned to the world they knew.

And nobody

Knows what’s

Happened to

Dear Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.

CAPTAIN
HOOK

Captain Hook must remember

Not to scratch his toes.

Captain Hook must watch out

And never pick his nose.

Captain Hook must be gentle

When he shakes your hand.

Captain Hook must be careful

Openin’ sardine cans

And playing tag and pouring tea

And turnin’ pages of his book.

Lots of folks I’m glad I ain’t-

But mostly Captain Hook!

HUG
O’
WAR

I will not play at tug o’ war.

I’d rather play at hug o’ war,

Where everyone hugs

Instead of tugs,

Where everyone giggles

And rolls on the rug.

Where everyone kisses.

And everyone grins.

And everyone cuddles.

And everyone wins.

IT’S
DARK
IN
HERE

I am writing these poems

From inside a lion.

And it’s rather dark in here.

So please excuse the handwriting

Which may not be too clear.

But this afternoon by the lion’s cage

I’m afraid I got too near.

And I’m writing these lines

From inside a lion.

And it’s rather dark in here.

OURCHESTRA

So you haven’t got a drum, just beat your belly.

So I haven’t got a horn-I’ll play my nose.

So we haven’t any cymbals-

We’ll just slap our hands together.

And though there may be orchestras

That sound a little better

With their fancy shiny instruments

That cost an awful lot-

Hey, we’re making music twice as good

By playing what we’ve got!

FLAG

One star is for Alaska …

One star is for Nebraska …

One star is North Dakota …

One star is Minnesota…

There are lots of other stars,

But I forget which ones they are.

COLORS

My skin is kind of sort of brownish

Pinkish yellowish white.

My eyes are greyish blueish green.

But I’m told they look orange in the night.

My hair is reddish blondish brown,

But it’s silver when it’s wet.

And all the colors I am inside

Have not been invented yet.

THE
LOSER

Mama said I’d lose my head

If it wasn’t fastened on.

Today I guess it wasn’t

‘Cause while playing with my cousin

It fell off and rolled away

And now it’s gone.

And I can’t look for it

‘Cause my eyes are in it.

And I can’t call to it

‘Cause my mouth is on it

(Couldn’t hear me anyway

‘Cause my ears are on it),

Can’t even think about it

‘Cause my brain is in it.

So I guess I’ll sit down

On this rock

And rest for just a minute….

JOEY

Joey Joey took a stone

And knocked

Down

The

Sun!

And whoosh! it swizzled

Down so hard,

And bloomp! it bounced

In his backyard.

And glunk! it landed

On his toe!

And the world was dark,

And the corn wouldn’t grow.

And the wind wouldn’t blow.

And the cock wouldn’t crow,

And it always was Night,

Night,

Night.

All because

Of a stone

LISTEN
TO
THE
MUSTN’TS

Listen to the
MUSTN’TS
, child.

Listen to the
DON’TS

Listen to the
SHOULDN’TS

The
IMPOSSIBLES
, the
WON’TS

Listen to the
NEVER
HAVES

Then listen close to me-

Anything can happen, child,

ANYTHING
can be.

JIMMY
JET
AND
HIS
TV
SET

I’ll tell you the story of Jimmy Jet-

And you know what I tell you is true.

He loved to watch his TV set

Almost as much as you.

He watched all day, he watched all night

Till he grew pale and lean.

From “The Early Show” to “The Late Late Show”

And all the shows between.

He watched till his eyes were frozen wide,

And his bottom grew into his chair.

And his chin turned into a tuning dial.

And antennae grew out of his hair.

And his brains turned into TV tubes.

And his face to a TV screen.

And two knobs saying”vert.”and”horiz.”

Grew where his ears had been.

And he grew a plug that looked like a tail

So we plugged in littleJim.

And now instead of him watching TV

We all sit around and watch him.

EARLY
BIRD

Oh, if you’re a bird, be an early bird

And catch the worm for your breakfast plate.

If you’re a bird, be an early early bird-

But if you’re a worm, sleep late.

SKY
SEASONING

A piece of sky

Broke off and fell

Through the crack in the ceiling

Right into my soup,

KERPLOP!

I really must state

That I usually hate

Lentil soup, but I ate

Every drop!

Delicious delicious

(A bit like plaster).

But so delicious, goodness sake-

I could have eaten a lentil-soup lake.

It’s amazing the difference

A bit of sky can make.

THE
FARMER
AND
THE
QUEEN

“She’s coming,” the farmer said to the owl.

“Oh, what shall I, what shall I do?

Shall I bow when she comes?

Shall I twiddle my thumbs?”

The owl asked, “Who?”

“The Queen, the Queen, the royal Queen-

She’ll pass the farm today.

Shall I salute?” he asked the horse.

The horse said, “Nay.”

“Shall I give her a gift?” he asked the wren.

“A lovely memento for her to keep?

An egg or a peach or an ear of corn?”

The wren said, “Cheap.”

“But should I curtsy or should I cheer?

Oh, here’s her carriage now.

What should I do?” he asked the dog.

The dog said, “Bow.”

And so he did, and so she passed,

Oh, tra lala lala,

“She smiled, she did!” he told the sheep.

The sheep said, “Bah.”

PANCAKE?

Who wants a pancake,

Sweet and piping hot?

Good little Grace looks up and says,

“I’ll take the one on top.”

Who else wants a pancake.

Fresh off the griddle?

Terrible Theresa smiles and says,

“I’ll take the one in the middle.”

SMART

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!

US

Me and him

Him and me.

We’re always together

As you can see.

I wish he’d leave

So I’d be free

I’m getting a little bit

Tired of he.

And he may be a bit

Bored with me.

On movies and ladies

We cannot agree.

I like to dance

He loves to ski.

He likes the mountains

I love the sea.

I like hot chocolate

He wants his tea.

I want to sleep

He has to pee.

He’s meaner and duller

And fatter than me.

But I guess there’s worse things

We could be-

Instead of two we could be three.

Me and him

Him and me.

I’M
MAKING
A
LIST

I’m making a list of the things I must say

for politeness.

And goodness and kindness and gentleness,

sweetness and rightness:

Hello

Pardon me

How are you?

Excuse me

Bless you

May I?

Thank you

Goodbye

If you know some that I’ve forgot,

please stick them in your eye!

ME
AND
MY
GIANT

I have a friend who is a giant,

And he lives where the tall weeds grow.

He’s high as a mountain and wide as a barn,

And I only come up to his toe, you know,

I only come up to his toe.

When the daylight grows dim I talk with him

Way down in the marshy sands,

And his ear is too far away to hear.

But still he understands, he ‘stands,

I know he understands.

For we have a code called the “scratch-tap code,”

And here is what we do-

I scratch his toe … once means, “Hello”

And twice means, “How are you?”

Three means, “Does it look like rain?”

Four times means, “Don’t cry.”

Five times means, “I’ll scratch you a joke.”

And six times means, “Goodbye,” “Goodbye,”

Six times means, “Goodbye.”

And he answers me by tapping his toe-

Once means, “Hello, friend.”

Two taps means, “It’s very nice to feel your scratch again.”

Three taps means, “It’s lonely here

With my head in the top of the sky.”

Four taps means, “Today an eagle smiled as she flew by.”

Five taps means, “Oops, I just bumped my head against the moon.”