I Babysat (Once)
I was pushing the buggy one day
When my grip on the handle gave way
And it started to roll
downhill out of control
With my sister still snoozing away.
She rolled through the center of town.
Still asleep through the deafening sound,
Of barks and bow-wow-as
of the beagles, Chihuahuas
And mutts at the city dog pound.
Past Main street and Elm rolled my sister
It’s amazing that all the cars missed her.
She moved with the ease
of a cool evening breeze
But the speed of a level 3 twister.
I found her off Highway 19
Having gone through the carwash machine.
With a lemony smell
(They had waxed her as well)
I brought her back home nice and clean.
— Brian P. Cleary
Copyright © 2004. All Rights Reserved. From Rainbow Soup: Adventures in Poetry. Millbrook Press. Reprinted by permission of the author.
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From Rainbow Soup: Adventures in Poetry
Come romp with me amongst the words/Come play amongst the phrases/Swing and climb from pun to rhyme/And hop through versey mazes. Swim through rivers thick with thought/Rejoice from head to toe-etry. Beat your drums and shake your bums/And dance the dance of poetry. From the author of the best-selling Words Are CATegorical™ series, this playful poetry collection includes limericks, puns, palindromes, and more. Short annotations explain the various forms and terms of poetry used.
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About the Author
Born in Lakewood, Ohio, the third oldest of nine children, Brian P. Cleary grew up reading the bouncy rhymes of Dr. Seuss. A frustrated student and reluctant learner, Brian daydreamed from class to class until being introduced to poetry at about age eight. Intrigued, he set on a course to explore the wonder of words.
He “grew up” in one of the 5 largest creative divisions in the world—American Greetings. He has put words in the mouths of William Shatner and Smokey Robinson, been anthologized with Jack Prelutsky, Kenn Nesbitt, and Lemony Snicket and authored and sold more than 3 million children’s books.
As a humorist, writer, and poet, Brian P. Cleary shows kids how to play with words. He believes that humor is not only a fun way to learn, but an effective way to teach. His best-selling Words Are CATegorical™ series, which introduces young readers to different types of words through rhyming verse and illustrations of comical cartoon cats, has been compared to the likes of Dr. Seuss, while his books of poetry and puns have been honored alongside the works of Roald Dahl and Shel Silverstein. Fondly known as the “word nerd,” Brian lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
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