Author of The Hungry Tiger of Oz, Ozoplaning with the Wizard in Oz, and The Wish Express, etc.
Originally published in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, October 3, 1915.
Sometimes when Mary Ann goes out
And leaves us by ourselves—
Mother and John and I come down
And clean the kitchen shelves!
And after we have set the pans
All in a shining row
And make the kitchen tidy
John and I most always know
That mother’s going to bake a cake—
And don’t we run to get
The bowls and cups and sifting sieve
And sugar—well, YOU BET!!
And while she stirs the batter up
She’ll chuckle with a wink—
“Why don’t you children run out doors,
You’d want to, I should think!”
But John and I stick close as fur
And say we’d rather stay
Inside—because it’s much too hot
To romp about today!
Why, we wouldn’t miss the lickings,
John and I—for all the fun
A-going and we stick around
Until the cake is done!
For after we have scraped the bowl,
There’s still the icing pan,
And mother leaves so much in both—
We wonder how she can.
And when it’s in the oven
We just sit and sniff and sniff
And bounce about—and every now
And then—we ask her—if
She doesn’t think it’s done?
And she just smiles and says, “Not yet!”
You see, there’s always samples—
That we know we’re going to get!
Sometimes I wish that Mary Ann
Would go away and STAY!
’Cause then, perhaps, our mother’d make
A cake just every day!
THE FORGETFUL POET
By Ruth Plumly Thompson
Originally published in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, July 4, 1920.
Summer Time Rhymes and Riddles
The river mentioned last week was Susquehanna, the cities Fez and Lima and the words left out of the Forgetful pome Emma and emulated.
A HAPPY DAY
I went to walk upon the lake,
And, oh, the air felt good!
And after that I went to row
Out in a little wood.
How sweet the oars sang in the brake,
How soft the breezes blew!
I shipped my birds, took out my pen
And wrote this pome for you.
(Very kind of the Forgetful Poet, I’m sure; but I’m afraid he’s mixed in his dictionary—or something.)
WHAT ANIMAL?
The name for a person who simply glories
In telling jokes and sleepy stories
Will give an animal—what’s more,
Fill out the rhyme and call him -----?
[Answers next time.]
The river mentioned last week was Susquehanna, the cities Fez and Lima and the words left out of the Forgetful pome Emma and emulated.
A HAPPY DAY
I went to walk upon the lake,
And, oh, the air felt good!
And after that I went to row
Out in a little wood.
How sweet the oars sang in the brake,
How soft the breezes blew!
I shipped my birds, took out my pen
And wrote this pome for you.
(Very kind of the Forgetful Poet, I’m sure; but I’m afraid he’s mixed in his dictionary—or something.)
WHAT ANIMAL?
The name for a person who simply glories
In telling jokes and sleepy stories
Will give an animal—what’s more,
Fill out the rhyme and call him -----?
[Answers next time.]
Copyright © 2016 Eric Shanower and David Maxine. All rights reserved.
