Friday, February 13, 2009

Nonsense Poems

Do you remember any nonsense poems that you learned when you were a kid? I remember listening to my Mom rattling off a couple of these poems while I giggled over them. I feel like I've always known these poems and taught them to my own kids when they were young.

Early in the morning
in the middle of the night,
two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other,
drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise
and shot the two dead boys.
If you don't believe my story is true,
as the blind man
-He saw it too!

Another one is:

An empty truck full of bricks
ran over a dead cat.
They rushed him to the hospital
but when they got there
he was dead.

Until I just typed these, I didn't realize how much "dead" there is in them. It never bothered me when I was little - I just thought they were funny.

Another one that I remember from Grandpa was about a cat, an alive one. This poem isn't really a nonsense poem, but for some reason I always stored it in the same category in my mind.

Listen...
Listen...
There's a cat pissin'.
Where? Where?
Under the chair!
Hurry Hurry
Get the gun.
Ah, hell, he's already done.

Now I know that one's not so nice, but I love it.

Do you have any silly poems floating around in your mind from your childhood?
Who did they come from?

9 comments:

Twisted Fencepost said...

I do remember the first and last one. Never heard the middle one though.
One I remember...
3, 6, 9
a goose drank wine,
minkey chewed tobacco on a street car line,
street line broke,
monkey got choked,
and they all went to heaven in a little row boat.
I have no idea where I heard it, but everytime I hear 3, 6, 9, I repeat the rest of it in my head.
Oh, yeah, here's another one...
Schools out, schools out,
teacher let the monkeys out,
one went east, one went west,
and one went up the teachers dress.
Don't know where that one came from either.

Shelby said...

oh I remember silly little poems. they make me smile.

Andrea said...

I don't remember any silly poems...it's so nice that you have such vivid recollections from your childhood. :) Thanks for sharing!

Mary said...

Paula,

Here is one called Auntie's Skirts.

Whenever Auntie moves around,
Her dresses make a curious sound,
They trail behind her up the floor,
And trundle after through the door.


Happy Valentine's Day, my friend.
Blessings,
Mary

Tillybud said...

I remember loads of poems nonsense and otherwise. One of my favourite childhood ones wasn't nonsense, more of a tongue twister-

"I can't do my bally bottom button up
no i can't do my bally bottom button up
It's so tight
serves me right
I must have eaten too much grub last night
I can't do my bally bottom button up
And though you think it's fun
What's the use of doing up the other bally buttons
when the bally bottom button's undone?"
My mum recently told me that my great uncle (a perfect gentleman) used to say 'bally' instead of a swear word. And he used to say that poem too!

Adrienne said...

Those are funny! I don't remember any ... I can't remember what I had for breakfast ;-)

ancient one said...

I had heard the cat poem as a child... but haven't thought of it in ages... and the 3,6,9, that twisted fencepost said.. I heard that one too.. the others I didn't know... what a fun post!

Anonymous said...

I knew the first one you listed but not the others. One I remember:

Fatty and skinny lying on a bed fatty rolled over and skinny was dead. Fatty called the doctor and the doctor said if fatty rolls over we'll all be dead!

Susan said...

I had not thought about those for years. Thanks for the memories. Now I better find the boys and share with them, to make sure they have not forgotten these important lessons from their childhood!