WEBVTT

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I was asked by several people
after writing a number of poems

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of that kind why I
never read nice poems,

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and I cast about for a way
of writing a monologue, which

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would seem to satisfy this.

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And I tried to write a
number from the standpoint

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of very small children, I'd
like to read you one of these.

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I wanted to get the psychology
of a child at the age

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before it's really
become adult enough

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to grasp how to use the word I.

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When children are
very little that they

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refer to themselves not as
I, but by their first names.

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They say, Mary likes
this or Johnny,

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wants this, whatever it is.

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Well, I imagined a
child that thought

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its name was Who, possibly
because its mother

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had lent over it in the pram
and said, Who is a bad boy.

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This happens in
America, does it?

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It's a standard
phrase in England.

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So throughout this poem a
child refers to itself as Who.

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"A Child's Garden."

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Who was here before
his cat washed and rose

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without his shoes.

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Who inched outside while
someone's hat made a noise,

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the light feet helped.

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Whose, whose are these eggs?

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Lady bird's.

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Hard like crumbs of sleep.

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She flies off to help Who
finds some words for sounds

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and things.

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Whose two puffed eyes
tug at flowers now

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for bees tucked away.

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Some tried to hide in
potting foxglove's jugs.

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Who sees their fat
bear's thighs though,

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wedged inside scowling honey.

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Look, rare stones
in lupin leaves.

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Who's flapping gown
shakes them all out.

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Ow, whose bones
aren't awake, make

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Who fall down biting earth.

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Who hears a sound Whose
are these wet softish

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hairs brushing someone's mouth?

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Can bound as quick
as you, whoosh!

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Peter scares a thin bird--

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zip, sqawk.

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Its beak almost nipped Who's
fattest worm, head and tail.

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Who sees him squeak
through the grass.

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Who sees him squirm down a hole.

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Who wants to kiss
his frightened worm.

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Who's coolish knees
push him up to clematis

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he thinks it's called.

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It makes him sneeze.

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Goose flesh comes.

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Who's bare toes
rake up oily slugs.

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Who wants to hop skip.

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Who's flopping
tassels make ants run.

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Who hears his crispies pop.

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Kellogg's pay me a fortune
to throw in that commercial

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in the last line.

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