Just this morning I wrote in my notebook that I wanted to play more when I was writing poetry. I realized that I miss writing whimsical verse–poems that are light-hearted, silly and fun. I thought about revisiting some Ogden Nash or maybe some Shel Silverstein to look for some mentor texts. Then, reality intruded, and I had to stop writing and head to school to try to move into my new classroom.
As I unpacked boxes and flipped through files, I unearthed a copy of a poem I dimly remembered writing for my students when I was teaching either first or second grade. I can’t remember why I wrote it, much less why it was copied onto a transparency sheet. (Remember those!?) Parts of the poem had worn away during its long sojourn in the forgotten folder, but I decided to quickly revise it and share today. It was fun to work on something a bit lighter!
The Glizard
The Shoe-Stealing Glizard is a rare beast to see.
He creeps about stealthily, trying to be
as quiet as shadows shifting around,
searching for grub without making a sound.
His name tells the story. It gives him away.
He’s hunting for shoes. All the night! All the day!
He’s not very choosy about what he eats.
He adores cowboy boots and even old cleats!
He takes red shoes and green ones and big ones and small.
The size doesn’t matter, not one bit at all.
He just loves the taste, the crunch and the munch.
He can eat ten at once, and that’s just for lunch!
If your sneakers are stinky and dripping with gunk,
why to him, that’s a treat, a delicious Ker-plunk!
He’ll dip them in milk and then with a slurp
he’ll gobble them up, finish up with a burp.
So when you can’t find your shoe or its mate,
keep your eyes open, but it might be too late.
It could be the case, I’m sorry to say,
that the Shoe-Stealing Glizard has wandered your way!
Molly Hogan, draft
This week’s Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted by Carol at her blog, The Apples in My Orchard. She’s sharing a lesson about “I am” poems with all sorts of links to poets and poems.
Nix the comfort zone 
Molly, your poem is one to make me laugh. Light-heartedness is what I need after two days of cooking, cleaning, and trying to keep my little granddaughters busy with life: swimming at the pool, reading, walking by the duck pond, baking muffins and chocolate chip cookies. My house is topsy turvy and the key to my silver chest was hidden by the 19 month-old. I love the weekends with the girls but had to squeeze in a post for PF. I love this line of yours: If your sneakers are stinky and dripping with gunk”, Maybe, I should say if your house is stinky (from baby diapers) and cluttered today…
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It sounds like you had a rich weekend, indeed! I’m glad my poem induced a chuckle through the post-fun fatigue.
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Molly, I love this light hearted verse. I can imagine it as a picture book. But you somehow have the put the glizzard to bed at the end.
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Molly, I was smiling the whole time I was reading your poem! I love it. I can just imagine your class of first or second graders giggling while you read it. Thanks for sharing! And, yes, unfortunately, I do remember transparencies. I used them when I taught nursing students in the early 90s! Yikes!
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Thanks! I hope they liked it. I barely remember writing it, much less reading it to them. lol
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Lol. Some days are like that!
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That’s fun, Molly. In my house the shoe-stealing glizard was my mom–especially if you were hanging onto torn-up sneakers. 🙂
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Now there’s a twist!
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Well that is just pure delight–and also very accomplished rhyme-and-meter, my friend! Play is good. Play is refreshment and learning. I’ve been yearning to play games lately, to laugh more. Thanks for helping.
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Thanks, Heidi. It was fun to play. A serendipitous find ‘midst my classroom debris!
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So, so fun. Just saying the word Glizard is fun!
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Oh, my gosh….first, TRANSPARENCIES! Oh, my gosh, I lived by those things. Kids today don’t even know what they are. And, yes to wanting the fun. I already miss the freedom of summer. Just to have time to mosey in a poem for a while.
I love the Shoe Stealing Glizard! So fun and funny. Full of word play and what I think of as your classic humor. What fun. I know you will take that into the classroom with you. Lucky kids!
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What a fun poem! It has a real Seuss-ian feel to it. I’m betting your students loved it.
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I love this and I bet your kids did too! Did you get all moved into your new classroom? Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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There might be one or two piles of boxes covered with cloth…maybe! lol But I’m ready for Monday and we hope the missing cubbies, shelves, etc. will arrive and be installed at the end of the week. Fingers crossed!
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Transparencies & those ‘overheads’ – hadn’t thought of those in a long while. My students loved using them for presentations. I hope you can find a way to send this poem somewhere for publication, Molly. It is marvelous. I wonder if they kept losing shoes & that’s why you wrote it? I’ve had a few through the years who walked around sock-footed but then couldn’t find their shoes!
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We often joke that taking shoes off is definitely a marker of sorts at school. Of course, it’s not only students who fall into that category!
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I can imagine your inner delight as you made this poem with its humour and rhyme Molly. A poem with strong appeal to younger readers no doubt, but also to this big kid as well. Loved its appeal to the imagination.
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Just the fun I needed to read today, Molly. Thank you. 🙂
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Molly love your rollicking poem I can see it all before me, especially the 2nd to last verse, and what fun it would be to illustrate… Sure reminds me of Shel Silverstein, thanks! 😉
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It must be fun to envision illustrations and know that you could also create them! 🙂
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