Hi Everyone,
Time for Bluebell Books fortnightly poetry review.... time flies! Today I'm looking at Spike Milligan's Silly Verse for Kids.
This book of verse is tightly written, irreverant, brilliant and as promised, very, very silly.
Spike Milligan is one of those staples of children's verse that I find never fails to cheer. His style is totally unique in it's blend of wisdom around the human condition and absolute craziness.
This combination in Milligan's poetry, along with it's lack of pretense or the sometimes caustic worldliness of other talented writers such as Roald Dahl is foolproof in getting people of all ages to have a giggle.
A sample of poems from Silly Verse for Kids are:
Said the General
Said the General of the Army,
'I think that war is barmy'
So he threw away his gun:
Now he's having much more fun.
(Page 21)
Failure
I'm trying to write the longest first line that poetry has ever had,
For a start that wasn't bad,
Now here comes a longer oneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I know I cheated:
It was the only way I could avoid being defeated.
(Page 53)
Mary Pugh
Mary Pugh
Was nearly two
When she went out of doors.
She went out standing up she did
But came back on all fours.
The moral of the story
Please meditate and pause:
Never send a baby out
With loosely waisted draws.
(Page 13)
There's definately nothing else like it!
Cynthia Marston.
