Reading Level: Grade 3
Topics: Science and Technology Poems, Wordplay
Poetic Techniques: Irony, Punctuation, Wordplay
Word Count: 140

About This Poem

Did you know that you can read misspelled words, usually without any problem. In fact, if the first and last letters of words are the same, you can usually read the words, even if the rest of the letters are all scrambled up. For example, you can porbalby uderntsnad waht I’m syiang in tihs snetnece, eevn tohguh the wrods are srcmabled. In fact, I wrote another poem where I do exactly that, called “I’m Srot of Srcmabled Up Tdaoy.”

The same is true of substituting numbers for letters. In this poem, I substituted numbers for the letters that they look similar to. I replaced S’s with 5’s, E’s with 3’s, and so on. Can you figure out what the poem is saying? It might be a little tricky, but once you get used to reading this way, it gets a little easier. Try it and see.

You might also try writing your own poems or messages in this secret code. Then you can write letters that only you and your friends will understand.

Worksheet

Click here for a printable worksheet for this poem

From the book My Cat Knows Karate

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