The Poet’s Corner
Tom
For Tom Sigman, who loved the stars, cats, and the dictionary!
Once there was a boy named Tom. Tom liked to look things up in books. He looked things up about stars in the night sky, and cats, and chemistry and other things that interested him.
All his life, Tom kept looking things up in books. When he retired, he had lots of time to look things up and this pleased him very much.
Tom lived in Berkeley, California, right downtown so he could walk everywhere. He lived in a cottage behind another house. His cottage had once been a garage, so it was not very big. It had a front porch that was great for fresh air and also a good place to sleep in the big overstuffed chair beside the front door.
Most of the time during the day, Tom’s cats slept in the chair on the front porch. At night, except in the coldest, rainiest weather, both Tom and the cats slept in the overstuffed chair.
Tom often brought a dictionary out with him when he sat in the overstuffed chair on the front porch. He loved looking up words just as much as he had when his father taught him how to look up words in a dictionary in the first place, years ago, in the small town where Tom’s family lived. The town was surrounded by apple orchards. Tom’s whole family loved the apple orchards. In the spring, the blossoms were beautiful and smelled good when you walked down the rows of trees. In the fall, everyone came out to “pick-your-own” days.
In between spring and fall, Tom and his friends sneaked into the apple orchard to pick green apples, which always tasted better than any apples you could get in town. Mostly, Tom and his friends weren’t caught. When they were caught, they whispered about their punishments, which differed from family to family. Some kids cried a little when they told their stories, but the tears didn’t last long, because the kids always thought of something new to do.
Tom
For Tom Sigman, who loved the stars, cats, and the dictionary!
Once there was a boy named Tom. Tom liked to look things up in books. He looked things up about stars in the night sky, and cats, and chemistry and other things that interested him.
All his life, Tom kept looking things up in books. When he retired, he had lots of time to look things up and this pleased him very much.
Tom lived in Berkeley, California, right downtown so he could walk everywhere. He lived in a cottage behind another house. His cottage had once been a garage, so it was not very big. It had a front porch that was great for fresh air and also a good place to sleep in the big overstuffed chair beside the front door.
Most of the time during the day, Tom’s cats slept in the chair on the front porch. At night, except in the coldest, rainiest weather, both Tom and the cats slept in the overstuffed chair.
Tom often brought a dictionary out with him when he sat in the overstuffed chair on the front porch. He loved looking up words just as much as he had when his father taught him how to look up words in a dictionary in the first place, years ago, in the small town where Tom’s family lived. The town was surrounded by apple orchards. Tom’s whole family loved the apple orchards. In the spring, the blossoms were beautiful and smelled good when you walked down the rows of trees. In the fall, everyone came out to “pick-your-own” days.
In between spring and fall, Tom and his friends sneaked into the apple orchard to pick green apples, which always tasted better than any apples you could get in town. Mostly, Tom and his friends weren’t caught. When they were caught, they whispered about their punishments, which differed from family to family. Some kids cried a little when they told their stories, but the tears didn’t last long, because the kids always thought of something new to do.
Tom often suggested they look things up in the dictionary. At first, this seemed like a stupid idea to most everybody, but soon all the kids loved it.
“Let’s look up the word ‘book’,” someone suggested on an especially hot afternoon when they were waiting for it to cool down enough to walk to the lake for a swim.
There were lots of definitions of “book” to choose from. The funniest was “a set of written sheets of skin or paper or tablets of wood or ivory.”
Someone said you could write on the sheets of your bed – if you didn’t get caught!
“What kind of skin?” another kid asked. Could you use skin pealed off your sunburn? “Yuk! Puke! Shut up!” followed that suggestion.
After that there was a very serious discussion about wood and ivory since everyone was trying not to waste paper made of trees and too many elephants were being killed for their ivory tusks.
In the end, they found a definition they all liked. “A set of pages that have been fastened together inside a cover to be read or written in.” It was from The Cambridge Dictionary.
Tom had never been to Cambridge in England, where the dictionary came from, but his friend Tanya had. She liked Cambridge very much and was glad that the definition everyone liked best came from there.
When Tom grew up and went to work and then retired and sat on his front porch with his cats looking up words in the dictionary, he loved to remind people – kids and grownups alike – how looking up one word in the dictionary leads to looking up other words and how much fun that is. You could look up “sheet” and “skin” and even “puke”! The example for “puke” in the Cambridge Dictionary made everyone laugh: “The baby puked all down my shirt.”
Tom told everyone they could even make their own books. He said Tanya and her friend Raven did that. You didn’t even have to have a purpose. You didn’t even have to put words in your book. Just fold some pieces of paper together. Use an old magazine. Glue pages or sew them or staple them on the fold or don’t even bother with a fold.
Draw on them. Collage on them. Tear up things to add. You can use anything.
Tom had piles of newspapers and magazines on his front porch. Everyone took a couple of newspapers. Tom told people to close their eyes and pick out some magazines. Lots of giggles. Everyone did that. Then they went home and made books with whatever they could find glued on or painted on or drawn on with pencils and pens. Someone even stuck things on with old chewing gum!
Then they brought all the new books they made over to Tom’s front porch for everyone to look at and read.
That’s how Tom’s front porch got to be so famous in the neighborhood.
Tanya Joyce
Poet, Painter, Pinole Artisan
www.tanyajoyce.com
[email protected]
“Let’s look up the word ‘book’,” someone suggested on an especially hot afternoon when they were waiting for it to cool down enough to walk to the lake for a swim.
There were lots of definitions of “book” to choose from. The funniest was “a set of written sheets of skin or paper or tablets of wood or ivory.”
Someone said you could write on the sheets of your bed – if you didn’t get caught!
“What kind of skin?” another kid asked. Could you use skin pealed off your sunburn? “Yuk! Puke! Shut up!” followed that suggestion.
After that there was a very serious discussion about wood and ivory since everyone was trying not to waste paper made of trees and too many elephants were being killed for their ivory tusks.
In the end, they found a definition they all liked. “A set of pages that have been fastened together inside a cover to be read or written in.” It was from The Cambridge Dictionary.
Tom had never been to Cambridge in England, where the dictionary came from, but his friend Tanya had. She liked Cambridge very much and was glad that the definition everyone liked best came from there.
When Tom grew up and went to work and then retired and sat on his front porch with his cats looking up words in the dictionary, he loved to remind people – kids and grownups alike – how looking up one word in the dictionary leads to looking up other words and how much fun that is. You could look up “sheet” and “skin” and even “puke”! The example for “puke” in the Cambridge Dictionary made everyone laugh: “The baby puked all down my shirt.”
Tom told everyone they could even make their own books. He said Tanya and her friend Raven did that. You didn’t even have to have a purpose. You didn’t even have to put words in your book. Just fold some pieces of paper together. Use an old magazine. Glue pages or sew them or staple them on the fold or don’t even bother with a fold.
Draw on them. Collage on them. Tear up things to add. You can use anything.
Tom had piles of newspapers and magazines on his front porch. Everyone took a couple of newspapers. Tom told people to close their eyes and pick out some magazines. Lots of giggles. Everyone did that. Then they went home and made books with whatever they could find glued on or painted on or drawn on with pencils and pens. Someone even stuck things on with old chewing gum!
Then they brought all the new books they made over to Tom’s front porch for everyone to look at and read.
That’s how Tom’s front porch got to be so famous in the neighborhood.
Tanya Joyce
Poet, Painter, Pinole Artisan
www.tanyajoyce.com
[email protected]