Things You Don’t Need to Know
From the book The Aliens Have Landed at Our School!
Don’t test a rattlesnake’s rattle.
Don’t count the teeth of a shark.
Don’t stick your head in the mouth of a bulldog
to find out what’s making him bark.
Don’t count the stripes on a tiger.
Don’t squeeze an elephant’s trunk.
Don’t pet the scales of a boa constrictor
and don’t lift the tail of a skunk.
Don’t study spots on a leopard.
Don’t check the charge of an eel.
Don’t pull the claws on a grizzly bear’s paws
regardless of how brave you feel.
Don’t pull a porcupine’s whiskers.
Don’t touch a crocodile’s toe.
Learn all you like, but try not to forget:
there are some things you don’t need to know.
— Kenn Nesbitt
Copyright © 2001. All Rights Reserved.
Reading Level: Grade 3
Topics: Animal Poems, Wordplay
Poetic Techniques: List Poems, Lyric & Dramatic Poems, Repetition
Word Count: 120
From the book The Aliens Have Landed at Our School!
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