Friday, August 27, 2010

I have a little pussy
Her coat is silver gray
She's in a great wide meadow
She never runs away
She'll always be a pussy
She'll never be a cat
'Cause she's a pussy willow
What do you think of that?



That poem is called, "The Pussy Willow Poem" and it is straight out of a 3rd grade workbook. This particular section of the workbook is called, "Making Inferences" and there are three questions at the end of this poem:

1)Why does a pussy willow never run away
2)Why will this pussy never grow to be a cat
3)Really, what is the "coat of silver gray"?

My friend Nichole told me that this is her from her nephew's workbook, and when she saw it she died laughing. I really, really wish I was mature enough not to join her in laughter, but I am not. Not even close. I think this is hilarious, and you'd best believe that if I were in the teacher in this class and this came up, I would do everything in my power to skip this page in the workbook. I know pussy willow is an innocent term for (some) third graders..but I also know that throwing around "pussy" without its best friend "willow" is just recipe for parental tampering..and no teacher really wants that..

Let me remind you that I'm 35, I have a 13 year old son, and I'm getting married in December, and I'm up here laughing about pussy willow poems...

The Roots - Pussy (Willow) Galore

4 comments:

maxwellsmusze said...

okay so no one is going to say ANYTHING about the pussy willow poem???? this is hilarious and if this came up in my lesson plans no way could i keep a straight face in front of the kiddies! LOL!!!

Anonymous said...

This is so ironic, that i see this post on here. My son is in 2nd grade and he just received this same exact poem for homework and i did the same thing laughed, I was actually shocked by this being an assignment for his homework,. But we manged TO GET THRU IT

Anonymous said...

I AM A LADY OF MATURE YEARS. I HAVE REMEMBERED THIS POEM FROM MY YOUTH AND WAS REMINDED OF IT AGAIN WHEN A WONDERFUL GREY CAT APPEARED TO BE ABANDONED AND CAME TO LIVE WITH ME.
I HAVE NAMED HIM "WILLOW'. HE IS A PRECIOUS GIFT FROM MY HEAVENLY FATHER.
I AM GRATEFUL FOR SWEET MEMORIES.
HOW DELIGHTFUL TO FIND IT ON THE INTERNET!
SCR

Anonymous said...

Anonymous
My mother was 84 in 2009 when she passed away. She had repeated this poem to me several times as one she remember from her childhood.
I was delighted to find it.