Erin had to learn a poem,
A poem to say all quite alone,
Yes, a poem all of her own,
To say in front of class.
She looked in books.
She looked in nooks.
She looked and looked
And looked and looked,
Till she ran out of gas.
She finally said,
“I wish I were dead,
Cause there’s no poem
Inside my head!
“The teacher will make me flunk”, she said;
“I need a poem to pass.”
To make herself feel somewhat better
She went and wrote Bob Munsch a letter,
Hoping he might tell her whether
They could write a poem together.
It couldn’t hurt to ask.
And he sent her back a poem,
A poem to say all quite alone,
Yes, a poem all of her own,
To say in front of class.
Which goes to show,
As you may know,
No matter what stuff life does throw;
It doesn’t hurt to ask.
THE END
A Poem of her Own
Erin really did write me a letter asking for a poem and this is the poem I sent her. She memorized it and told it at the school poetry contest and she got first prize. It is the only time any of my poems got a prize. Erin and her sister are in an unpublished story called "COTTON CANDY".