Poems on Cheese

An attempt to falsify the charge of Mr. Chesterton

“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese”

So spake one Mr. Chesterton in 1910. The gauntlet having been thrown down for these past one-hundred and six-teen years, I thought it prudent to have someone else rise to the challenge. Delegation is the essence of leadership. Thus I challenged my two boys, one aged ten and the other eight, to write me a poem on cheese. The challenge answered, and these are the results.

The first is by Walt, aged 8. I have attempted to maintain his spelling, as it seems to me to be part of the essence of his poetic gift.

Cheese is mease, mease is Cheese cese wies mease leis
Cheese it tops your guts ontu the flor weis it out
Cheese is gud and so are you cheese weis mease
Cheese skupes you gut gut intu a boll cheesse is good
Cheese is the best and so are you.

The second, by Liam, aged 10, is less Saxon, and suffers from a greater degree of intelligiblity.

Parmashon is a good and yumy cheese.
Chedder cheese is a good and yumy cheese.
Smoked chedder cheese ais a yumy cheese.
Guda is not a very good plane cheese.
Smoked guda is a pretty good cheese.

Liam’s biases towards the various types of cheese is clear. He does not like Gouda, Poor fellow. Liam also offered up another poem, on a topic closer to his own heart than cheese. it is entitled “Hunting Poem” and is as follows,

To hunt is to be as swift as an elk,
Silent as a lion when hunting,
Strong as a gorilla,
And that is how you hunt.

I quite like this offering.