I Hab a Code

A week or so ago I told you that Don had a terrible cold. Well, now his is gone, but he passed it on to me, of course. I am feeling perfectly miserable. One of my former students, Keith, used the line, "I had a code", or something like that on his Facebook page a while back, and it rang a bell. I remembered a poem from my teaching days that sounded very much like that. So today I looked for my old teaching days poetry books, and, sure enough, I found the poem by that title.

Back in the 1990's Anderson Area Reading Council would bring in a published author every year as a feature speaker at their annual Young Authors Conference. When I was president of the group, our featured authors were Carolyn Lesser and Larry Shles. They are a couple of former teachers who collaborated on several children's books. I purchased their poetry book called "The Knees Knock Again." The following is one of the poems from this book.


I Hab a Code

I hab a code id by dose
Ad I cad pway today.
Baby I cad pway tobow-woe.

I wand to wud ad jumb ad skib
But here I ab stuck id bed.
Stufd wid bedicine,
Yuk!

I hab a code id by dose
Ad I cad pway today,
Bud......
I ab GOIG to pway tobow-woe!



I would like to think that Keith learned this in my reading class, but I had Keith in class long before I met Carolyn and Larry, and bought their book. Keith probably
bought the book for his daughter!

Colds seem to be a favorite topic for children's poets. You have no doubt heard of
Shel Silverstein, whose absolutely nonsensical poetry delights children. Delighted them so much, in fact, that his books had a way of walking out of my classroom. I don't know how many I have bought in my life. I recently found copies at the Friends of the Library book sale, so I replenished my book shelf once again.
Here is Shel's contribution to cold-related poetry:


BAD COLD

This cold is too much for my shirtsleeve.
Go get me a Kleenex - and fast.
I sniffle and wheeze
And I'm ready to sneeze
And I don't know how long I can last.... (exactly how I feel)

Atchoo --- It's too wet for a Kleenex,
So bring me a handkerchief, quick.
It's - atchoo - no joke,
Now the handkerchief's soaked.
Hey, a dish towel just might do the trick.

Atchoo - it's too much for a bath towel.
There never has been such a cold.
I'll be better off
With that big tablecloth,
No - bring me the flag off the pole.

Atchoo - bring the clothes from the closet,
Atchaaa - get the sheets from the bed,
The drapes off the window,
The rugs off the floor
To soak up this cold in my head.

Atchoo - hurry down to the circus
An d ask if they'll lend you the tent.
You say they said yes?
Here it comes - Lord be blessed -
Here it is - Ah kachoooooo - there it went.


See, the longer he writes, the sillier he gets, and kids love it!
Anyway, now you know just how I am feeling.
I hope to see the family on Christmas - all well again.
In the meantime, stay away from our house. I don't want to pass this on to
anyone else but the circus tent!