Being Simple
It's time for Fly on the Wall!Where we give our beloved readers an opportunity to see what has been going on in our homes--and minds--this past month.I have been thinking about--what else--pie!
I’m quite sure you all know that I love pie.True story.And so poems that discuss this particular subject are pretty muchguaranteed to capture my attention.Ahem….Thus, I introduce to you:Simple Simon.Okay, personally, I think labeling anyone as ‘simple’ is alittle insulting. I just want to put that out there. And yes, at first glance,this appears to have nothing at all to do with ‘pie’.Wait for it…
Simple Simon met a pieman, Going to the fair, Says Simple Simon to the pieman. Let me taste your ware!
Ha!Told you!Let’sjust make a note here and now that I am totally with Simon in asking for alittle taste. If someone is giving away free tastes, I’m there.Justask the girl at Baskin Robbins. I think I set a record.Judgingby the look on her face, she wasn’t as impressed as I was.ButI digress…Whatwere we talking about?Oh,yes. Pie tastes…I’mthere.Particularlyif the pie is lemon. Or cherry. Maybe blueberry. Pumpkin.Okay.Any flavour. Ahem...So thus far in the story, Simon and me, we’re together.Now that pieman’s reaction in the next stanza is, in a word,predictable.
Says the pieman unto Simon. Show me first your penny, Says Simple Simon to the pieman. Indeed I have not any!
Oh,Simon, I feel your pain.ThatBaskin Robbins girl (see above) said the same thing.Ofcourse, by that point, I think my ‘tasting’ could easily have equaled a doublecone.Oops.But thisis where Simon and I depart company. Because I DID have a penny!Orseveral, because, let’s face it…ice cream ain’t cheap!Ishould point out here that I do, in point of fact, sympathize with the pieman.I mean, this is his livelihood we’re talking about. And—here’s where icecream differs from pie—a little taste out of a tub of ice cream is noticeably lessnoticeable than a little taste from a nicely, neatly-covered pie.Solet’s move on, sadly, away from pie.Sigh.
Simple Simon went a-fishing, For to catch a whale, All the water he could find Was in his mother's pail.
Okay, here’s where I admit that I am a miserable fisherman.In my life, I’ve caught a grand total of…zero fish.Oh, I’ve drowned a lot of poor, defenseless worms, one or twobugs and some fairly innocent corn kernels in a bid to catch something besidesboredom.With no luck whatsoever.But even I, with said miserable record, know that one ishardly likely to catch even a mini whale in one’s mother’s pail.Pretty simple, Simon.And lastly, this…
Simple Simon went to look If plums grew on a thistle, He pricked his fingers very much, Which made poor Simon whistle.
A couple of thoughts here.Thistles were plentiful where I grew up.And—I just want to say this here—not one ever bore anythingeven remotely resembling a plum.Stupid, useless thistles.And I have been the recipient of a thistle’s tender embrace.It is anything but tender.And you’ve probably figured out that, having experienced the ‘prickly’tendencies of your typical thistle, the last thing I feel like doing iswhistling.Just sayin’…
Up for more? Go, now and read what my sister writers have been up to this month! Enjoyment guaranteed!

I’m quite sure you all know that I love pie.True story.And so poems that discuss this particular subject are pretty muchguaranteed to capture my attention.Ahem….Thus, I introduce to you:Simple Simon.Okay, personally, I think labeling anyone as ‘simple’ is alittle insulting. I just want to put that out there. And yes, at first glance,this appears to have nothing at all to do with ‘pie’.Wait for it…
Simple Simon met a pieman, Going to the fair, Says Simple Simon to the pieman. Let me taste your ware!
Ha!Told you!Let’sjust make a note here and now that I am totally with Simon in asking for alittle taste. If someone is giving away free tastes, I’m there.Justask the girl at Baskin Robbins. I think I set a record.Judgingby the look on her face, she wasn’t as impressed as I was.ButI digress…Whatwere we talking about?Oh,yes. Pie tastes…I’mthere.Particularlyif the pie is lemon. Or cherry. Maybe blueberry. Pumpkin.Okay.Any flavour. Ahem...So thus far in the story, Simon and me, we’re together.Now that pieman’s reaction in the next stanza is, in a word,predictable.
Says the pieman unto Simon. Show me first your penny, Says Simple Simon to the pieman. Indeed I have not any!
Oh,Simon, I feel your pain.ThatBaskin Robbins girl (see above) said the same thing.Ofcourse, by that point, I think my ‘tasting’ could easily have equaled a doublecone.Oops.But thisis where Simon and I depart company. Because I DID have a penny!Orseveral, because, let’s face it…ice cream ain’t cheap!Ishould point out here that I do, in point of fact, sympathize with the pieman.I mean, this is his livelihood we’re talking about. And—here’s where icecream differs from pie—a little taste out of a tub of ice cream is noticeably lessnoticeable than a little taste from a nicely, neatly-covered pie.Solet’s move on, sadly, away from pie.Sigh.
Simple Simon went a-fishing, For to catch a whale, All the water he could find Was in his mother's pail.
Okay, here’s where I admit that I am a miserable fisherman.In my life, I’ve caught a grand total of…zero fish.Oh, I’ve drowned a lot of poor, defenseless worms, one or twobugs and some fairly innocent corn kernels in a bid to catch something besidesboredom.With no luck whatsoever.But even I, with said miserable record, know that one ishardly likely to catch even a mini whale in one’s mother’s pail.Pretty simple, Simon.And lastly, this…
Simple Simon went to look If plums grew on a thistle, He pricked his fingers very much, Which made poor Simon whistle.
A couple of thoughts here.Thistles were plentiful where I grew up.And—I just want to say this here—not one ever bore anythingeven remotely resembling a plum.Stupid, useless thistles.And I have been the recipient of a thistle’s tender embrace.It is anything but tender.And you’ve probably figured out that, having experienced the ‘prickly’tendencies of your typical thistle, the last thing I feel like doing iswhistling.Just sayin’…
Up for more? Go, now and read what my sister writers have been up to this month! Enjoyment guaranteed!
Published on April 19, 2024 10:32
No comments have been added yet.
On the Border
Stories from the Stringam Family ranches from the 1800's through to today.
Stories from the Stringam Family ranches from the 1800's through to today.
...more
- Diane Stringam Tolley's profile
- 43 followers
