TEXT OF STORY
Kai Ryssdal: To mark April being national poetry month we’re spending a couple of Mondays on the poetry of all things economic. A lot of you wrote to nominate “Smart” by Shel Silverstein. A poem about kids and money. So for some analysis, we took it to the source. Ms. Simms’ 4th, 5th, and 6th graders in Fullerton, Calif. They caught on pretty quickly that the hero’s not exactly the best with money.
Ms. Simms’ class: He gets less and less money when he thinks he’s getting more. He had $1, and now he only has five cents.
Here’s the whole thing. Ms Simms’ kids reading “Smart” from Shel Silverstein’s “Where the Sidewalk Ends.”
Smart
My dad gave me one dollar bill
‘Cause I’m his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
‘Cause two is more than one!And then I took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes — I guess he didn’t know
That three is more than two!Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just ’cause he can’t see
He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,
And four is more than three!And then I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!And then I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head —
Too proud of me to speak!
RYSSDAL: From the mouths of 10-year-olds, bigger is not always better. That was Sarah Nascimento, Vadi Eghterafi, Victoria Vo, Semonne Brandt, Kevin Chou and the rest of Ms. Simms’ class at Arborland Montessori school in Fullerton, Calif. Next week, three poems about one thing: work.
COPYRIGHT (C) 1974, renewed 2002 EVIL EYE MUSIC
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
