In Pursuit of Poetry

March 14 - Shel Silverstein - Sick

March 14, 2018 I have almost caught up to the actual date. The first two weeks worth of entries have been written during March Break.... a catch up week for me. So what poem will I choose for today? Given that I am sick with a cold, I decided to go looking for sick poems.... and I found this little gem:

Sick

Shel Silverstein, 1930 - 1999

"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 voice 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!"

For me it is not Saturday, it is Thursday and my cold kicked in at 10 pm Sunday night.... just in time to make all my plans for a wonderful March Break go to pot. I spent last week in a bunch of kindergarten classes with lots of children sick.... and still coming to school. One teacher said that when she called home to ask the parents to come get their child, the parent asked if her child was throwing up continuously or if it was a one time thing! She didn't want to take time off work to see to her child... please. We don't all want to get sick. Do you know how fast germs spread in a kindergarten class?!!!

This poem does a funny play on being sick and some kids try to get out of everything. As a child, I did not like to miss anything. In fact, in grade 10 I walked into my math class and had my teacher ask, "Carolyn what are you doing here?" when I looked at him blankly, he went on to say that my bus had been cancelled. I could have had a snow day!

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