#poetry #learnenglish #englishfun #enlemveboylam #free4talk

One Hippopotami - Allan Sherman

One hippopotami cannot get on a bus
Because one hippopotami is two hippopotamus
And if you have two goose, that makes one geese
A pair of mouse is mice. A pair of moose is meese
A paranoia is a bunch of mental blocks
And when Ben Casey meets Kildaire, that's called a paradox
When two minks fall in love, with all their heart and soul
You'll find the plural of two minks is one mink stole
Singulars and plurals are so different, bless my soul
Has it ever occurred to you that the plural of "half" is "whole"?
A bunch of tooth is teeth. A group of foot is feet
And two canaries make a pair--they call it a parakeet
A paramecium is not a pair
A parallelogram is just a crazy square
Nobody knows just what a paraphernalia is
And what is half a pair of scissors, but a single sciz?
With someone you adore, if you should find romance
You'll pant, and pant once more, and that's a pair of pants!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umlBrQoG6xk

Be Proud Of Who You Are

S Raine

I come with no wrapping or pretty pink bows.
I am who I am, from my head to my toes.
I tend to get loud when speaking my mind.
Even a little crazy some of the time.
I'm not a size 5 and don't care to be.
You can be you and I can be me.
I try to stay strong when pain knocks me down.
And the times that I cry are when no one's around.
To error is human or so that's what they say.
Well, tell me who's perfect anyway.

Openin’ Night

BY SHEL SILVERSTEIN

She had the jitters
She had the flu
She showed up late
She missed her cue
She kicked the director
She screamed at the crew
And tripped on a prop
And fell in some goo
And ripped her costume
A place or two
Then she forgot
A line she knew
And went “Meow”
Instead of “Moo”
She heard ‘em giggle
She heard ‘em boo
The programs sailed
The popcorn flew
As she stomped offstage
With a boo-hoo-hoo
The fringe of the curtain
Got caught in her shoe
The set crashed down
The lights did too
Maybe that’s why she didn’t want to do
An interview.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55344/openin-night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuIBLzcBS1c

so you want to be a writer?

Charles Bukowski, 1920 - 1994

if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
unless it comes unasked out of you heart,
and your mind and your mouth and your gut,
don’t do it.

if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your typewriter
searching for words,
don’t do it.

if you’re doing it for money or fame,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it because you want women in your bed,
don’t do it.

if you have to sit there and rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody else,
forget about it.

if you have to wait for it to roar out of you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you’re not ready.

don’t be like so many writers,
don’t be like so many thousands of people who call themselves writers,
don’t be dull and boring and pretentious,
don’t be consumed with self-love.
the libraries of the world have yawned themselves to sleep over your kind.
don’t add to that.
don’t do it.

unless it comes out of your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would drive you to madness or suicide or murder,
don’t do it.
unless the sun inside you is burning your gut,
don’t do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by itself
and it will keep on doing it
until you die
or it dies in you.

there is no other way.
and there never was.

https://youtu.be/iYdjFYFwiII

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/so-you-want-be-writer

I Am As I Am

by Sir Thomas Wyatt

I am as I am and so will I be
But how that I am none knoweth truly,
Be it evil be it well, be I bond be I free
I am as I am and so will I be.

I lead my life indifferently,
I mean nothing but honestly,
And though folks judge diversely,
I am as I am and so will I die.

I do not rejoice nor yet complain,
Both mirth and sadness I do refrain,
And use the mean since folks will fain
Yet I am as I am be it pleasure or pain.

Divers do judge as they do true,
Some of pleasure and some of woe,
Yet for all that no thing they know,
But I am as I am wheresoever I go.

But since judgers do thus decay,
Let every man his judgement say:
I will it take in sport and play,
For I am as I am who so ever say nay.

Who judgeth well, well God him send;
Who judgeth evil, God them amend;
To judge the best therefore intend,
For I am as I am and so will I end.

Yet some that be that take delight
To judge folks thought for envy and spite,
But whether they judge me wrong or right,
I am as I am and so do I write.

Praying you all that this do read,
To trust it as you do your creed,
And not to think I change my weed,
For I am as I am however I speed.

But how that is I leave to you;
Judge as ye list, false or true;
Ye know no more than afore ye knew;
Yet I am as I am whatever ensue.

And from this mind I will not flee,
But to you all that misjudge me,
I do protest as ye may see,
That I am as I am and so will I be.

https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-am-as-i-am-4/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlhWF8py_E4

We Will Not Go Down - Michael Heart

A blinding flash of white light
Lit up the sky over Gaza tonight
People running for cover
Not knowing whether they're dead or alive

They came with their tanks and their planes
With ravaging fiery flames
And nothing remains
Just a voice rising up in the smoky haze

We will not go down
In the night, without a fight
You can burn up our mosques and our homes and our schools
But our spirit will never die
We will not go down
In Gaza tonight

Women and children alike
Murdered and massacred night after night
While the so-called leaders of countries afar
Debated on who's wrong or right

But their powerless words were in vain
And the bombs fell down like acid rain
But through the tears and the blood and the pain
You can still hear that voice through the smoky haze

We will not go down
In the night, without a fight
You can burn up our mosques and our homes and our schools
But our spirit will never die
We will not go down
In Gaza tonight

We Will Not Go Down - Michael Heart Karaoke Acoustic Version

We Will Not Go Down (Song for Gaza) - Michael Heart (Instrumental)

Peace Train - Cat Stevens

Now I've been happy lately
Thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be
Something good has begun

Oh, I've been smiling lately
Dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be
Someday it's going to come

'Cause I'm on the edge of darkness
There ride the Peace Train
Oh, Peace Train take this country
Come take me home again

Get your bags together,
Go bring your good friends, too
'Cause it's getting nearer,
It soon will be with you

Now come and join the living,
It's not so far from you
And it's getting nearer,
Soon it will all be true

Now I've been crying lately,
Thinkin' about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating,
Why can't we live in bliss

Oh Peace Train sounding louder
Glide on the Peace Train
Come on now, Peace Train
Yes, Peace Train holy roller

Everyone jump upon the Peace Train
Come on, come on, come on
Yes, come on, peace train
Yes, it's the peace train

Come on now, peace train
Oh, peace train

Songwriters: Cat Stevens / Yusuf Islam

Peace Train lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BMG Rights Management

Madonna - Don't Cry For Me Argentina

It won't be easy, you'll think it strange
When I try to explain how I feel
That I still need your love after all that I've done
You won't believe me, all you will see is a girl you once knew
Although she's dressed up to the nines
At sixes and sevens with you
I had to let it happen, I had to change
Couldn't stay all my life down at heel
Looking out of the window, staying out of the sun
So I chose freedom, running around trying everything new
But nothing impressed me at all
I never expected it to
Don't cry for me, Argentina
The truth is, I never left you
All through my wild days, my mad existence
I kept my promise
Don't keep your distance
And as for fortune, and as for fame
I never invited them in
Though it seemed to the world they were all I desired
They are illusions, they're not the solutions they promised to be
The answer was here all the time
I love you, and hope you love me
Don't cry for me, Argentina
Don't cry for me, Argentina
The truth is, I never left you
All through my wild days, my mad existence
I kept my promise
Don't keep your distance
Have I said too much?
There's nothing more I can think of to say to you
But all you have to do is look at me to know
That every word is true

Songwriters: Andrew Lloyd Webber / Tim Rice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD_1Z8iUDho

LOOK! THE LEAVES ARE STARTING TO FALL
by Carolyn Graham (Grammar Chants)

Look! The leaves are starting to fall.
Winter is coming, winter is coming.
Now the nights are growing cold.
Winter is coming soon.
Look at the sky! It's starting to snow.
Winter is here, winter is here.
Look at the sky! Look at the snow!
Winter is here, winter is here.

Look! The snow is starting to melt.
Spring is coming, spring is coming.
Look! The flowers are starting to bloom.
Spring is coming soon.
Look at the trees! Look at the flowers!
Spring is here, spring is here.
Look at the sun! Look at the sky!
Summer is coming soon

IT WAS RAINING WHEN SHE SAW HIM
by Carolyn Graham (Grammar Chants)

It was raining when she saw him.
It was raining when they met.
It was pouring when they fell in love,
the streets were dark and wet.

It was raining when they parted.
There were dark clouds in the sky.
It was raining when he left her,
when he turned and said "Good-bye."