Poetry Thursday: The Scent of Feet

I think writing a humorous poem is incredibly difficult. I was going to give up the challenge when I thought about how much my students LOVE funny poems. It's the biggest poetry hook. So I read through a book of Shel Silverstein for inspiration (he makes it seem so effortless!) and decided to give it a try.

We've had this odd happening in my classroom of late where kids pull off their shoes and smell them during the day. Multiple kids. Multiple times. I find this odd and have made ridiculous mandates like, "There will be no smelling of feet in class!" It has yet to work. So I'll share this attempt at a funny poem with them instead.

The Scent of Feet

Keep your shoes on your feet!
the teacher would repeat.
At this age your toes
should not be near your nose!

But we love our pheremones
and we cannot help but sniff
to get a little whiff
of the grubby, mossy funk.

We’re taken with the gunk
of old sneaker lumps
jelly shoe crud
some two-day-old sock.

So we know that it is crass
but we cannot help ourselves
from inhaling the perfume
of our toes
in class.