from the book "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (1974)
#AmericanWriters
She fumbles and stumbles And falls down the stairs, Makes love to the leg of the dinin… She’s ready for animals, women or… She’s doing Quaaludes again.
Last night, while I lay thinking… some Whatifs crawled inside my ear and pranced and partied all night… and sang their same old Whatif son… Whatif I’m dumb in school?
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.
Sick ‘I cannot go to school today… Said little Peggy Ann McKay. 'I have the measles and the mumps, A gash, a rash and purple bumps. My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
She’s a liberated lady and she’s l… And she don’t need your protection… And she does not want your help. And if you’re lookin’ for some pre… You better go look somewhere else,
Lazy lazy lazy lazy lazy
Birds are flyin’ south for winter. Here’s the Weird-Bird headin’ nor… Wings a-flappin’, beak a-chatterin… Cold head bobbin’ back 'n’ forth. He says, 'It’s not that I like ic…
(Daddy what if the sun stop shinin… If the sun stopped shinin’ you’d b… You’d stare at the heavens with wi… And the wind would carry your ligh… And the sun would start shinin’ ag…
Alimony alimony I work till my fi… Me oh my oh goodness sake I’m pay… She calls it alimony alimony yeah… Till one of these days you’re gonn… Pom pom I walk around ragged like…
Yeah they call me Grizzly Bear go… Walk down the street and everybody… Ohohoh well I’m wild and wooly an… And so you’d better not mess with… Lemme tell you that I howl yowl g…
I’ve been working so hard you just… And I’m tired! There’s so little time and so much… And I’m tired! I’ve been lying here holding the g…
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
This evening I unzipped my skin And carefully unscrewed my head, Exactly as I always do When I prepare myself for bed. And while I slept a coo-coo came
Oh they won’t let us show it at th… They think we’re gonna grab it if… And they won’t let us show it at t… But you can show it in your parlor… You can show it at a party with yo…
If we meet and I say, ‘Hi,’ That’s a salutation. If you ask me how I feel, That’s a consideration. If we stop and talk a while,