Baby Brother


My baby brother falls a lot.
I see how sad he feels.


I think that baby brothers
should come with training wheels.

Barking Spiders at My Party


Hush now, barking spiders, 
please don’t make a sound.
I’m at my birthday party.
I don’t need YOU guys around.


All my friends are here.
It’s important that you know
YOU didn’t get invited
so I wish that you’d just go.


I’m wearing all my birthday stuff, 
shirt, pants and my new sandals.
If you won’t go, then please hush up
when I blow out my candles.

A Word From Mr. Brown


Our neighbor, Mr. Brown,
came over yesterday.
He was mad and he was yelling
about the pothole in our lane.


"Surely the city should fix it!
Surely they know it's there.
It's the widest, deepest pothole!
Surely the city must care."


I know Mr. Brown was angry,
and he's really a very nice man,
but why'd he call Daddy Shirley?
Some things I don't understand.

Little Girl


A little girl, a long time ago,
believed that she could fly.
She saw the movie, Peter Pan,
and decided she would try.


She thought her happy thought,
let out a rooster's crow,
and as she shouted, "I believe!"
she tumbled to the floor below.


She woke up in a hospital,
Mommy and Daddy by the bed.
It took six stitches to sew up
where she had conked her head.


The little girl learned a lesson.
Be careful in what you believe.
Some things will always be pretend.
The little girl?  Yeah, it was me.



~ Hugs, CJ

Dreaming


Did you ever wonder about dreaming?
How the pictures get in your head?
Why they’re only there when you’re sleeping?
Why they’re only there in your bed?


You can fly anywhere that you want to.
You can soar above houses and cars.
You can even go higher than that, if you want,
way, way up to the moon and the stars.


You can be someone great, someone special
who has magic powers to use
to save your brother from monsters
or NOT save, if that’s what you choose.


Dreaming is different from movies.
You don’t get dressed up and go out.
And a dream can be different every night,
you make up what the dream is about.


It’s too bad dreaming's for bedtime,
but I guess that’s just how it must be.
If we walked around dreaming in daylight,
why would we ever need sleep?

Bells, Bells



Large or small, loud or soft,
sometimes sad, mostly glad,
harbingers or heralders,
always bringing,
always ringing,
appealingly a-pealing.


Christmas bells and sleigh bells,
metal bells or glass,
harbingers or heralders,
always bringing,
always ringing,
appealingly a-pealing.


Wedding bells and church bells,
china bells or tin,
harbingers or heralders,
always bringing,
always ringing,
appealingly a-pealing.


Dinner bells and Tinkerbells,
iron bells or wood,
harbingers or heralders,
always bringing,
always ringing,
appealingly a-pealing.


Door bells, alarm clock bells,
a single bell or many,
harbingers or heralders,
but always bringing,
and always ringing,
appealingly 
a-pealing.

The Lemonade Stand



Get your ice cold glass of LEMONADE!
Hurry, before it’s gone!
We made it just this morning
for this table that it’s on.


We promise that you’ll like it,
and there’s sugar in it, too.
(Not like it was the other day
when Mom and Dad said, “Ewwww ...”)


Get your ice cold glass of LEMONADE!
Boy grownups sure are funny.
They smile a lot at little kids
who are trying to make money.


Thank you, maam, and thank you, sir.
You’ve helped us out a bunch.
(Sissy let’s go make some more.
It’s almost time for lunch.)


Get your ice cold glass of LEMONADE!
Only fifteen cents a glass!
We’ve gotta make more money,
and we’ve gotta make it fast.


Daddy said it wouldn’t work,
that people wouldn’t stop.
They’d hurry right on past us
and then they’d laugh a lot.


One last glass of LEMONADE!
This was so much fun!
Let’s get this table put away,
and then we’ve gotta run.


Sissy, look!  It’s snowing.
But that will be all right.
Now we have money for presents ...
and Santa Claus comes tonight.

My Snowman




Snow was flaking all around
then gently piling on the ground.


Just tiny puffs when floating free,
but stuck together I could see


it's like one voice that's singing for us,
or a lot, like in a chorus.


I rolled some up and stacked it high
and made a happy snowman guy.


I’m glad it's that way just with snow
and that’s not how we children grow,


'cause on a warm and sunny day,
my snowman slowly melts away.


As he melts, he gets so thin.
I wish, like me, that he had skin.