This is not an Adult’s Poem

Go away, Mum, I am reading!

This is a kids’ poem.

This is not a grown-ups’ poem.

This is called my poem.

 

Shush now, Mum, I am reading aloud!

Please don’t talk when I’m reading.

This is not your talking poem.

This is called my reading poem.

 

This is not your book.

This is my book.

This is not a grown-ups’ book.

This is called my book of poems.

 

I am not a baby, Mum!

I am not just a toddler.

I am four years old and I’m reading.

I am reading my book of poems.

 

It’s not bedtime, Mum!

I’m still reading.

I said: You go to bed if you’re tired.

This is not your adults’ poem.

 

AUTHOR

David Bleiman

David is a grandfather and poet living in Edinburgh. He loves to write across the languages and his first pamphlet, This Kilt of Many Colours (Dempsey & Windle, 2021) is a multilingual mixter-maxter in English, Scots, Spanish and Yiddish. This celebration of David's Jewish heritage includes the prizewinning Trebbler's Tale, written in a partly excavated but largely reimagined lost dialect of Scots-Yiddish. With the sense of humour of an overgrown schoolboy, David is now writing childish poems for himself and other children.

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