want to put
his or her name
on it?
Was it like me
when I didn’t think
my words
were
poems?
Maybe you will tell
the anonymous tree poet
that his or her tree poem
is really
a poem
really really
and a good poem, too.
MARCH 14
That was the best best BEST
poem
you read yesterday
by Mr. Walter Dean Myers
the best best BEST
poem
ever.
I am sorry
I took the book home
without asking.
I only got
one spot
on it.
That’s why
the page is torn.
I tried to get
the spot
out.
I copied that BEST poem
and hung it on my
bedroom wall
right over my bed
where I can
see it when I’m
lying
down.
Maybe you could
copy it too
and hang it
on the wall
in our class
where we can see it
when we are sitting
at our desks
doing our stuff.
I sure liked that poem
by Mr. Walter Dean Myers
called
“Love That Boy.”
Because of two reasons
I liked it:
One is because
my dad calls me
in the morning
just like that.
He calls
Hey there, son!
And also because
when I had my
yellow dog
I loved that dog
and I would call him
like this—
I’d say—
Hey there, Sky!
(His name was Sky.)
MARCH 22
My yellow dog
followed me everywhere
every which way I turned
he was there
wagging his tail
and slobber
coming out
of his mouth
when he was smiling
at me
all the time
as if he was
saying
thank you thank you thank you
for choosing me
and jumping up on me
his shaggy straggly paws
on my chest
like he was trying
to hug the insides
right out of me.
And when us kids
were playing outside
kicking the ball
he’d chase after it
and push it with his nose
push push push
and getting slobber
all over the ball
but no one cared
because he was such
a funny dog
that dog Sky
that straggly furry
smiling
dog
Sky.
And I’d call him
every morning
every evening
Hey there, Sky!
MARCH 27
Yes, you can type up
what I wrote about
my dog Sky
but don’t type up
that other secret one
I wrote—
the one all folded up
in the envelope
with tape on it.
That one uses too many of
Mr. Walter Dean Myers’s
words
and maybe
Mr. Walter Dean Myers
would get mad
about that.
APRIL 4
I was very glad
to hear that
Mr. Walter Dean Myers
is not the sort of person
who would get mad
at a boy
for using some of his words.
And thank you
for typing up
my secret poem
the one that uses
so many of
Mr. Walter Dean Myers’s
words
and I like what
you put
at the top:
Inspired by Walter Dean Myers.
That sounds good
to my ears.
Now no one
will think
I just copied
because I
couldn’t think
of my own words.
They will know
I was
inspired by
Mr. Walter Dean Myers.
But don’t put it
on the board
yet, okay?
Is Mr. Walter Dean Myers
a live person?
And if he is
do you think
he could ever come
to our city
to our school
to our class?
And if he did
we should hide
my poem
with his words—
hide it real good—
just in case
he would get mad
about that.
APRIL 9
No.
No, no, no, no, no.
I can’t do it.
You should do it.
You’re a teacher.
APRIL 12
I don’t agree
that Mr. Walter Dean Myers
might like to hear
from a boy
who likes his poems.
I think Mr. Walter Dean Myers
would like to hear
from a teacher
who uses big words
and knows how
to spell
and
to type.
APRIL 17
Dear Mr. Walter Dean Myers,
You probably don’t want to hear from me
because I am only a boy
and not a teacher
and I don’t use
big words
and you probably won’t read this
or even if you do read it
you probably are way too busy
to answer it
let alone do the thing
I am going to ask you
and I want you to know
that’s okay
because our teacher says
writers are very very very very
busy
trying to write their words
and the phone is ringing
and the fax is going
and the bills need paying
and sometimes they get sick
(I hope you are not sick,
Mr. Walter Dean Myers)
or their family gets sick
or their electricity goes off
or the car needs fixing
or they have to go
to the grocery store
or do the laundry
or clean up messes.
I don’t know how
you find the time
to write your words
if you have to do all that stuff
and maybe you should get
a helper.
So what I am asking you
is this:
If you ever get time
to leave your house
and if you ever feel
like visiting a school
where there might be some kids
who like your poems
would you ever maybe
think about maybe
coming
maybe
to our school
which is a cle
an place
with mostly nice
people in it
and I think our teacher
Miss Stretchberry
would maybe even
make brownies for you
because she sometimes
makes them for us.
I hope I haven’t too much
stopped you from doing your
writing of words
and fixing your car
and getting groceries
and all that stuff—
just to read this letter
which probably is taking you
maybe fifteen minutes
and in that time
you could’ve maybe
written
a whole new poem
or at least the start
of one
and so I am sorry
for taking up your
time
and I understand
if you can’t come
to our clean school
and read some of your poems
to us
and let us see your face
which I bet
is a friendly face.
My name is Jack.
Bye, Mr. Walter Dean Myers.
APRIL 20
Did you mail it?
Did he answer yet?
APRIL 24
Months???
It might
take months
for Mr. Walter Dean Myers
to answer my letter?
If he answers it?
I didn’t know—
until you explained—
that the letter has to go
to Mr. Walter Dean Myers’s
publisher company
and then someone
at the publisher company
has to sort all the mail
not just my letter
but hundreds and hundreds
of letters
to hundreds of authors
all that big mess of mail
piled up
and someone sorting sorting sorting
all that mail
and then the letters for
Mr. Walter Dean Myers
go to him
and maybe he’s away
maybe he’s on vacation
maybe he’s sick
maybe he’s hiding in a room
writing poems
maybe he’s baby-sitting
his children or his grandchildren
(if he’s married and stuff)
or maybe he has to go
to the dentist
or get that car fixed
or maybe someone died
(I really really really hope
someone did not die)
so
if you ask me
it could take him
years
to get around
to answering
that letter
so I guess
we’d better
just forget about it
not count on it
get it out of our minds
do something else
forget it.
APRIL 26
Sometimes
when you are trying
not to think about something
it keeps popping back
into your head
you can’t help it
you think about it
and
think about it
and
think about it
until your brain
feels like
a squashed pea.
MAY 2
Yes
you can type up
the thing about
trying not to think about
something
but
you’d better
leave my name off it
because it was
just words
coming out of my head
and I wasn’t paying
too much attention
to which words
came out
when.
MAY 7
Maybe you could
show me
how to use
the computer
and then
I could type up
my own words?
MAY 8
I didn’t know about
the spell-checking thing
inside the computer.
It is like a miracle
little brain
in there
a little helper brain.
But I am a slow typer person.
Did you say there is
a teaching-typing thing
in that computer, too?
Will it help me type
better
and
faster
taptaptaptaptap
so my fingers
can go as fast
as my brain?
MAY 14
(I typed this up myself.)
MY SKY
We were outside
in the street
me and some other kids
kicking the ball
before dinner
and Sky was
chasing chasing chasing
with his feet going
every which way
and his tail
wag-wag-wagging
and his mouth
slob-slob-slobbering
and he was
all over the place
smiling and wagging
and slobbering
and making
us laugh
and my dad
came walking up the street
he was way down there
near the end
I could see him
after he got off the bus
and he was walk-walk-walking
and I saw him wave
and he called out
“Hey there, son!”
and so I didn’t see
the car
coming from the other way
until someone else—
called out
“Car!”
and I turned around
and saw a
blue car blue car
splattered with mud
speeding down the road
And I saw Sky
going after the ball
wag-wag-wagging
his tail
and I called him
“Sky! Sky!”
and he turned his
head
but it was too late
because the
blue car blue car
splattered with mud
hit Sky
thud thud thud
and kept on going
in such a hurry
so fast
so many miles to go
it couldn’t even stop
and
Sky
was just there
in the road
lying on his side
with his legs bent funny
and his side heaving
and he looked up at me
and I said
“Sky! Sky! Sky!”
and then my dad
was there
and he lifted Sky
out of the road
and laid him on the grass
and
Sky
closed his eyes
and
he
never
opened
them
again
ever.
MAY 15
I don’t know.
If you put it on the board
and people read it
it might make them
sad.
MAY 17
Okay.
I guess.
I’ll put my name on it.
But I hope it doesn’t make
&nb
sp; people feel too sad
and if it does
maybe you could
think of something
to cheer everybody up
like maybe with
some of those brownies
you make
the chocolate ones
that are so good?
MAY 21
Wow!
Wow wow wow wow wow!
That was the best best BEST
news
ever
I can’t believe it.
Mr. Walter Dean Myers
is really really really
coming
to our school?
He was coming
to our city
anyway
to see his old buddy?
And he would be
honored
to visit
our clean school
and meet the mostly nice kids
who like his poems?
We sure are lucky
that his old buddy
lives in our town.
WOW!!!
MAY 28
The bulletin board
looks like it’s
blooming words
with everybody’s poems
up there
on all those
colored sheets of paper
yellow blue pink red green.
And the bookcase
looks like it’s
sprouting books
all of them by
Mr. Walter Dean Myers
lined up
looking back at us
waiting for
Mr. Walter Dean Myers
himself
to come
to our school
right into our classroom.
Wow!
MAY 29
I can’t wait.
I can’t sleep.
Are you sure
you hid my poem
that was inspired
by Mr. Walter Dean Myers?
I don’t want to do
any any anything
to upset him.
JUNE 1
MR.
WALTER
DEAN
MYERS
DAY
I NEVER
in my whole life
EVER
heard anybody
who could talk
like that
Mr. Walter Dean Myers.
All of my blood
in my veins