The Sofa Ate My Father
My dad was on the sofa.
He was watching the TV
when the sofa swiftly swallowed him,
then burped and said, “‘Scuse me.”
I’d never heard the sofa speak,
so that was really weird.
But I was mainly mad because
my father disappeared.
I yelled, “Hey, that’s my dad you ate!
You have to give him back!”
The sofa answered, “Sorry,
but I had to have a snack.
“I didn’t mean to eat your dad.
I know that might seem rude,
but your dad’s a ‘couch potato,’
so I figured he was food.
“I’ll try to be more careful
from now on with what I eat,
and you’ll have him back tomorrow
once he passes through my seat.”
— Kenn Nesbitt
Copyright © 2025. All Rights Reserved.
Reading Level: Grade 3
Topics: Food Poems, Poems about Friends and Family, Wacky Weirdness
Poetic Techniques: Alliteration, Anthropomorphism & Personification, Idioms, Narrative Poems, Pun Poems
Word Count: 124
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About This Poem
This poem started with a funny thought about the term “couch potato.” It’s a common idiom—an expression that means someone who sits around watching TV all day—but it isn’t meant to be taken literally. Still, I wondered what might happen if someone—or in this case, something—did take it literally. That’s how the idea for a sofa that mistakes a dad for food popped into my head.
From time to time, I like to write poems that play with idioms and double meanings, twisting language in silly ways to surprise the reader. If you enjoy that kind of wordplay, take another look at this poem and see if you can spot the other double meaning hidden inside!
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