PAST SIMPLE VERBS

This is the tale of Mister Morton
Mister Morton is who?
He is the subject of our tale
And the predicate tells what Mister
Morton must do

Mister Morton walked down the street
Mister Morton walked
Mister Morton talked to his cat
Mister Morton talked
(Hello, cat, you look good)
Mister Morton was lonely
Mister Morton was

Mister Morton is the subject of the sentence
And what the predicate says, he does

Mister Morton knew just one girl
Mister Morton knew
Mister Morton grew flowers for Pearl
Mister Morton grew
Mister Morton was very shy
Mister Morton was

Mister Morton is the subject of the sentence
And what the predicate says, he does

The subject is a noun
That's a person, place or thing
It's who or what the sentence is about
And the predicate is the verb
That's the action word
That gets the subject up and out

Mister Morton wrote Pearl a poem
Mister Morton wrote
Pearl replied in the afternoon
Pearl replied by a note
Mister Morton was very nervous
Mister Morton was

Mister Morton is the subject of the sentence
And what the predicate says, he does

The cat stretched
The sun beat down
A neighbor chased his kid
(Come here, kid - come on!)
Each sentence is completed when
You know what the subject did

Mister Morton knocked on her door
Mister Morton knocked
Mister Morton sat on her porch
Yes, he just sat there and rocked
Mister Morton was a nervous man
When she opened up the door he ran

Mister Morton climbed up his stairs
Mister Morton climbed
Mister Morton rhymed pretty words
Mister Morton rhymed
Mister Morton was lonely
Mister Morton was
Until Pearl showed up with a single rose
Who says women can't propose?
Now Mister Morton is happy
And Pearl and the cat are too

They're the subjects of the sentence
And what the predicate says, they do

BUNGHOLE OF THE WEEK: SPLITTING HAIRS

SPLIT HAIRS - "Argue extensively over trifles or fine distinctions; quibble. A hair can be split today without much trouble, but once it was thought to be so fine that an effort to split it would be a waste of time. The same was true of trifling points, and the analogy between the one and the other was made long ago. A translation in 1691 of Gabriel D'Emillianne's 'Observations on a Journey to Naples' offered: 'Shewing himself very inventive and dexterous at splitting a Hair in his way of handling Scholastick matter.' Gabriel D'Emillianne was the pseudonym of Antonio Gauin." From "Dictionary of Cliches" by James Rogers (Wings Books, Originally New York: Facts on File Publications, 1985).

Source: http://www.phrases.org.uk

THE BALLAD OF MARY SLADE, by Robin Fuller

FORGETFULNESS, by Billy Collins

Forgetfulness - Billy Collins Animated Poetry from smjwt on Vimeo.

The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart. 

MASKS, by Shel Silverstein

ABSTRACT NOUNS

WEIRD, OR JUST DIFFERENT?

EMPATHY vs SYMPATHY

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

SUELO: THE MAN WHO QUIT MONEY