How to Eat a Poem

Eve Merriam's beloved poetry tenderly holds our hearts in this timeless collection of funny poems designed to tease out your senses through verse.

From "'I,' says the poem" to "Weather", How to Eat a Poem contains some of Eve Merriam's most iconic and humorous poetry that evoke imagery of sights, sounds, tastes, and more. Paired with full, colorful illustrtions, kids will delight in sharing these poems with each other and the adults in their lives.

How to Eat a Poem

Don’t be polite.

Bite in.

Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice that may run down your chin.

It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are.

You do not need a knife or fork or spoon

or plate or napkin or tablecloth.

For there is no core

or stem

or rind

or pit

or pit

or seed

or skin

to throw away.

Eve Merriam was an Obie Award-winning playwright and a winner of the National Council of the Teachers of English (NCTE) Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. During her distinguished career she authored more than fifty books including It Doesn't Always Have To Rhyme, 12 Ways to Get to 11, The Inner City Mother Goose, and Low Song. Ms. Merriam died in 1992.