Poetry Friday: Thinking in Bed

"Bedroom in Arles" by Vincent Van Gogh

Thinking in Bed

by Dennis Lee, 1939

I’m thinking in bed, 
Cause I can’t get out 
Till I learn how to think 
What I’m thinking about; 
What I’m thinking about 
Is a person to be--
A sort of a person 
Who feels like me. 

I might still be Alice, 
Excepting I’m not. 
And Snoopy is super, 
But not when it’s hot; 
I couldn’t be Piglet, 
I don’t think I’m Pooh, 
I know I’m not Daddy 
And I can’t be you. 

My breakfast is waiting. 
My clothes are all out, 
But what was that thing 
I was thinking about? 
I’ll never get up 
If I lie here all day; 
But I still haven’t thought, 
So I’ll just have to stay. 

If I was a Grinch 
I expect I would know. 
But I don’t think so. 
There’s so many people 
I don’t seem to be-- 
I guess I’ll just have to 
Get up and be me.

   --From Alligator Pie, published by Macmillan Canada, 1974. Retrieved from poets.org.

And just for fun--oh, the thinks you can think!

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