Brod Bagert Poems

The Homework Guarantee 

I would have done it yesterday
If it weren't for the rain,
All that lightning and thunder
Are so tricky on my brain. 

And I'd like to work real hard tonight
To raise my grades right out of sight,
But my finger has a splinter,
And it hurts me when I write. 

Now tomorrow is another day
So we'll have to wait and see,
I intend to do my homework
But there's still no guarantee. 

I know I've got to do it
If I want to grow up smart,
But something always happens
Every time I try to start. 

Bad Words 

She actually said it,
She said it in class.
It sounded so nasty,
It sounded so crass.

The children stared,
The teacher scowled,
The custodian cried,
The principal howled.

Then poor little Patti,
My very best friend,
She opened her mouth
And she said it again.

"Bad words, bad words!"
We all began to chant.
"Never! Never! Never!
Never say the words . . . I CAN'T." 

How to Make a Poem that Flies 

If you want to put some life in a poem,

a little extra heart,
you might find that personification
is a pretty good place to start.

Make things act like they’re alive!
It’s a poetry delight.
Watch how I use it now to say—
“It was a stormy night.”

     The clouds began to growl!

     The wind began to cry!

     The moon got scared and disappeared,

     she didn’t say goodbye.

So in your poems, or in your prose,
or in your conversation
look for little clever ways
to insert a personification.

It’ll get to be a habit,
one of those everyday things,
one of the ways a poet learns
to give a poem its wings.

Then if your poem can find someone
to read its words out loud,
those wings will fill with air and soar
above the highest cloud. 

 

Caterpillars 

They came like dewdrops overnight

Eating every plant in sight,

Those nasty worms with legs that crawl

So creepy up the garden wall,

Green prickly fuzz to hurt and sting

Each unsuspecting living thing.

How I hate them!   Oh, you know

I’d love to squish them with my toe.

But then I see past their disguise,

Someday they’ll all be butterflies.

Contagious

Shut the windows,

Lock the locks,

Gretchen's got the chicken socks.

So contagious,

It's outrageous,

She's really got the blues,

I guess we should be glad
She didn't catch the chicken shoes.