| | As sure as prehistoric fish grew legs
and sauntered off the beaches into forests
working up some irregular verbs for their
first conversation, so three-year-old children
enter the phase of name-calling.
Every day a new one arrives and is added
to the repertoire. You Dumb Goopyhead,
You Big Sewerface, You Poop-on-the-Floor
(a kind of Navaho ring to that one)
they yell from knee level, their little mugs
flushed with challenge.
Nothing Samuel Johnson would bother tossing out
in a pub, but then the toddlers are not trying
to devastate some fatuous Enlightenment hack.
They are just tormenting their fellow squirts
or going after the attention of the giants
way up there with their cocktails and bad breath
talking baritone nonsense to other giants,
waiting to call them names after thanking
them for the lovely party and hearing the door close.
The mature save their hothead invective
for things: an errant hammer, tire chains,
or receding trains missed by seconds,
though they know in their adult hearts,
even as they threaten to banish Timmy to bed
for his appalling behavior,
that their bosses are Big Fatty Stupids,
their wives are Dopey Dopeheads
and that they themselves are Mr. Sillypants.
Billy Collins
My high school English teacher introduced me to Billy Collins and he has always been one of my favorite poets. He has a way of expressing informal, childlike occurrences in a sophisticated tone that brings humor to the poem. It's always funny to hear some of the things that come out of children's mouths, good or bad. I believe that although we grow up and get jobs and families of our own, the humor of our childhood should never be lost. I will always enjoy tickle fights, calling my mom a "meanie", or eating ice cream for breakfast. As I go through life, I will never forget to keep on laughing.
My idea for the Handmade book is to create a children's book full of fun colors, and playful images. I want it to have a childlike appearance that still relates to adults and can be enjoyable for all ages the way the poems of Billy Collins are. |
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