The Lamps Were All Delighted
The lamps were all delighted
when the trousers were decreased
by the tailor who depressed them
(though he’s recently deceased).
When the music was denoted
the musicians were defunct,
and some blankets were discovered
when the campers were debunked.
Lots of chickens were discounted
since their eggs had been delayed,
and the students were detested
by the games that they displayed.
Ancient castles were demoted.
Autographs were then designed.
All the credit cards were discharged
and the bad guys were defined.
Several ships were then deported.
Many dinners were disgraced.
Hordes of horses were detailed
as some watches were defaced.
Then the blankets were recovered
and the autographs resigned,
as the ships were all reported
and the bad guys were refined.
— Kenn Nesbitt
Copyright © 2024. All Rights Reserved.
Reading Level: Grade 7
Topics: Imaginary Poems, Wacky Weirdness, Wordplay
Poetic Techniques: Alliteration, Anthropomorphism & Personification, Narrative Poems, Nonsense Poems, Wordplay
Word Count: 126
About This Poem
If you have any trouble understanding this poem–if it doesn’t make sense to you–that’s okay. This poem is written at a 7th grade reading level and might need a little explanation. If you do understand it and you are not yet in middle school, give yourself a pat on the back; you’re probably pretty smart.
This poem shows that sometimes when you put a negative prefix like “de-,” “dis-,” “un-,” “in-,” or “non-” at the beginning of a word, you may come up with a new word that does not mean the opposite of what you started with. For example, to “decode” means to unravel a “code,” “degrease” means to remove “grease,” and “deforest” means to cut down trees. But “delighted” is not the opposite of “lighted” and “depressed is not the opposite of “pressed,” even though adding a “de-” prefix to a word often makes a word mean it’s opposite.
Kids often ask me where I get my ideas for poems from. My ideas come from many different places, and sometimes I am inspired by another poem. Sometimes, even an illustration or painting will give me an idea for a poem.
While I really enjoyed writing this poem, I can’t take credit for the idea. That goes to my friend Jack Prelutsky. I so loved his poem “When the Butcher Was Delivered” from his book My Dog May Be a Genius that I just had to try my hand at it and see if I could write something similar. It’s okay to take inspiration from another creator’s work, as long as you don’t copy their words and claim they are your own.
If you like this poem, you might also enjoy my poem “The Eggs Were All Bedeviled” and Jack Prelutsky’s “When the Butcher Was Delivered.”
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