Learning -- Judith Viorst

Guest poem sent in by Kathryn Stinson

(Poem #1694) Learning I'm learning to say thank you. And I'm learning to say please. And I'm learning to use Kleenex, Not my sweater, when I sneeze. And I'm learning not to dribble. And I'm learning not to slurp. And I'm learning (though it sometimes really hurts me) Not to burp. And I'm learning to chew softer When I eat corn on the cob. And I'm learning that it's much Much easier to be a slob. -- Judith Viorst

I memorized Viorst's "Learning" with my third grade son and recited it in
front of his third grade class, with him.  What a pleasure to share it,
parenting the same child who memorized it with me, as he was actually
learning little nuances of polite living.

It was a class assignment, and all the children memorized something and then
stood to recite, some with their parents, some going it alone.

Public school teachers are unsung heroes.  I thank mine whenever I get the
chance.

And a bunch of them have put together poetry sites for the little guys.
Here's a gateway site for several good children's poetry sites:

http://www.shadowpoetry.com/links/childrenspoetrylinks.html

~Kathryn Stinson

[Biography]

 Judith Viorst is the author of eight collections of poetry and five books of
 prose, including the bestseller Necessary Losses and her comic novel,
 Murdering Mr. Monti.

 ....

 Viorst has ... written twelve children's books, among them the classic
 Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible,  No Good, Very Bad Day.

 http://www.annonline.com/interviews/980112/biography.html

[Theme]

 The current theme, poems worthy of memorisation, started at Poem #1687

Someday Someone Will Bet That You Can't Name All Fifty States -- Judith Viorst

(Poem #1358) Someday Someone Will Bet That You Can't Name All Fifty States California, Mississippi North and South Dakota. New York, Jersey, Mexico and Hampshire, Minnesota. Vermont, Wisconsin, Oregon, Connecticut and Maine. Hawaii, Georgia, Maryland. Virginia (West and plain). Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas, Illinois, Alaska. Colorado, Utah, Florida, Delaware, Nebraska. the Carolinas (North and South). Missouri, Idaho. Plus Alabama, Washington, And Indiana, O- Klahoma. Also Iowa, Arkansas, Montana, Pennsylvania, Arizona, And Louisiana. Ohio, Massachusetts, and Nevada, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Wyoming. That Makes forty-nine. You win As soon as you say ____________. -- Judith Viorst

It should come as no surprise that I loved this poem. "Someday, Someone..." is
an unabashed piece of playful ingenuity that does for the states what Lehrer
did
for the Elements [Poem #490], and I loved it for the same reasons - the sheer
satisfaction of seeing a hodgepodge list of names organised into a neat series
of rhymes, and the pleasure of the rhymes themselves. Not to mention a
vicarious thrill at the *cleverness* of it all.

This is, indeed, more puzzle than poetry, a puzzle that Viorst does a
brilliant job of solving. Indeed, the brilliance is twofold, for first she
had to formulate the puzzle, to ask herself "would it be possible to...?".
The twist at the end was wonderful too, even if it did cause me to spend a
good fifteen minutes staring at the list and eliminating states in a
scattershot manner (yes, I did solve it. No, I'm not going to spoil the
answer :))

martin

p.s. Some of you will doubtless be amused that my first thought on reading
line 8 was "West Virginia and just Virginia". I apologise to everyone else :)

p.p.s. If anyone knows of other poems in a similar vein, please do send them
in.

Links:

 Biography: http://www.annonline.com/interviews/980112/biography.html
 AAP site: [broken link] http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=62