Allan Ahlberg Collected Poems

I was browsing a (physical) bookstore and found this collection illustrated by Charlotte Voake.

This is the poem that made me buy it (p 112):

Worlds

by Allan Ahlberg

The first world

Was made of paper.

God screwed it up in a ball.

It would not do at all.

The second world

Was made of ice-cream,

Fudge flavour mostly,

In a delicate (8,000-mile diameter) wafer cup.

God ate it up.

The third world

Was made of modelling clay.

God baked it in the oven

And gave it to his grandma.

The nineth world

Was made of house bricks,

Artfully arranged.

God won second prize

In a competition with it.

The twelfth world

Was made – woven, actually -

Of magic carpet material.

It commuted between here and there.

There were two billion

Uncomplicated if somewhat wind-blown

People on it.

The thirteenth world

Was perfect.

God put it down somewhere

And has been looking for it

Ever since.

The twenty-fifth world

Was made of a miraculous new substance

With mind-boggling properties.

It had an unfortunate smell, though,

Like rarely opened wardrobes.

The thirtieth world

Was made of dirt and water

Day and night

Grass

Trees

Bungalows

Odd socks

Incomplete jigsaw puzzles

Volcanoes

Fluff

Happiness and boredom

Wedding rings

General elections

Telephone books

And me and you.

God said that it would do.

Filed under: Literary Tagged: poetry of Allan Ahlberg