105 Ways to Give a Book

Poetry Friday: Sick

“I cannot go to school today,”
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
“I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I’m going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I’ve counted sixteen chicken pox
And there’s one more — that’s seventeen,
And don’t you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut, my eyes are blue —
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I’m sure that my left leg is broke —
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button’s caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle’s sprained,
My ’pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb,
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my spine is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out,
My elbow’s bent, my spine ain’t straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is — what?
What’s that? What’s that you say?
You say today is... Saturday?
G’bye, I’m going out to play!”
I’ve always loved this poem — “Sick,” by Shel Silverstein — and the book Where the Sidewalk Ends itself (it would be a mighty fine gift, in fact), but I chose it today to represent my week of feeling like crap. Why is always when you need to get it together and get stuff done that your body falls apart? Very annoying.

On Monday I took my Girl Scout troop shopping for stocking stuffers for the Salvation Army. Then we celebrated our shopping success with pizza and talking. I came home to supervise homework for an hour, cooked dinner, and then went to the Girl Scout leader meeting. There we had a supposed-to-be-short-but-really-a-freaking-hour-long-meeting and a gift exchange, with lots of laughing and talking. On Tuesday, my throat hurt (see the “talking” references) and my head ached, but I went to work because I had traded shifts with a co-worker and it seemed like bad form to switch hours and then not show up. Afterwards, I rested at home for an hour and then went to the drama club rehearsal (not a lot of talking) and then to the drama club play (much more talking with the parents). The play went very well.

On Wednesday, I felt so bad when I woke up that I took a sick day. I cleaned up some photo stuff on my computer and read and napped. And that’s about it. On Thursday, I have no idea where the morning went, but I spent the afternoon and evening at work.

Now, on none of those days will you see that I “did Christmas shopping” or “cleaned the house” or “put away laundry.” Here it is Friday, and I don’t work today. I do feel better (Yeah!), but I have a week’s worth of chores to do (Boo!). I have some reviews that I would love to get up soon — like today — but that may just have to wait. I haven’t seen who’s doing the Poetry Friday round-up today, but I can guarantee that it’s not me.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you're feeling better. I love that poem. Always one of my favorites.

Anonymous said...

Glad you're feeling better. I love that poem. Always one of my favorites.

Anonymous said...

Okay, what is up with blogger tonight? It kept rejecting my comments, and now they're here. Twice!

Oh well, I came back in to try again, so now I'll add -- my favorite lines are "I have the measles and the mumps/ A gash, a rash and purple bumps."

Anonymous said...

That's so funny... It reminds me of Roald Dahl's "Revolting Rhymes" !

Bkbuds said...

I just saw you're going to be one of the Reading Moms. Hooray! I recommended you, though maybe Julie Moos found you on her own, which would be a nice coincidence. I feel so smaht in such talented company.

Anonymous said...

I love this poem. It is my favorite one of Shel Silverstien's.I need a poem to use for an english poetry project and I'm definately using this one.

Anonymous said...

cool.