Our parrot, Polly, says a word
I’m not allowed to say,
and when she does, it’s plain to see,
it ruins my parents’ day.
When Polly says that nasty word,
it causes Mom to shriek,
”You really are a rotten bird!
I ought to glue your beak!”
When Polly says that filthy word,
in front of dear old Dad,
his face will turn the darkest red
because he’s boiling mad.
My parents say that Polly got
that word from our TV.
What they don’t know is that she
learned that dirty word from me!
This poem was originally published in 2001 in my poetry book, The New Toe: Poems To Tickle Your Funnybone
The Lonely Meatball 
This is funny. I got the book on Abe Books recently and plan to feature a review of it in a post at some point. Very good stuff!
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Wow! Thank you! That is so nice of you. I’m glad you like it. It’s hard to believe all that was 20 years ago. I hadn’t written a children’s poem in about 15 years until the pandemic came along.
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You have a great knack for it. * lowers voice to a whisper * I like your drawings better, though.
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You have completely made my month, Herb. Bill is actually quite famous in Canada. I had a bank credit card and noticed one day that the illustration on it was one of Bill’s. At that point, we were doing the book together so it was exciting.
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That’s gonna be one ex-parrot if he keeps that up!
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I wondered how to unteach a parrot a word. Apparently you have to ignore the bird when it says something you don’t like. The bird talks in order to get a reaction, so if it doesn’t get a reaction, it will probably try a different word.
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That is so interesting. I guess they’re like little kids. They look for reactions with new words too.
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Your poetry and drawings are always so adorable.!!!
I thought you were going to end the poem with a rhyme set up….instead the guilty admission,,,wonderful!!!!
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THANK YOU. I want you to know your approval means a great deal to me!
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