The strange thing is that my son loves peas. He prefers them cold and eats them with his fingers. I did not love peas and my parents had some tricks to get me to eat them. My dad’s was to tell me that if i didn’t eat them, caterpillars would crawl between my toes. I thought that would be cool. My mom recited a poem she learned from and attributed to her father.
I eat my peas with honey
I’ve done it all my life
It makes the peas taste funny
But it keeps them on the knife
I’m not sure the poem made me eat my peas, but it did get to the point that I didn’t believe the caterpillar story, and my sisters and I groaned in agony every time my mom started in on the pea poem.
The poem is actually by Ogden Nash, an American poet known for his short often humorous poems. At least it is attributed to him in a number of places on the web though it’s also attributed to Anonymous in this book on Google Books. But my mom would recite that every time she served peas with dinner. To the point that we would groan in anticipation. Fast forward, both my sister and I have kids and I’m sure we both are doing the same (at least I am).
I bring this up because I had always considered it to be a nonsense poem, but then I heard a line in a movie yesterday (which was Mother’s Day) that made me think otherwise.
Life is like licking honey from a thorn.
It’s not important what the movie was as the quote is very common. It’s the name of books and albums and blogs. What it means is that life has elements of both happiness and danger, and that one must risk the thorn to enjoy the honey. I see the Odgen Nash poem as an extension of that. Life is made up of things that sustain you (the peas) things that inspire you (the honey) and things that frighten you (the knife) and that sometimes, for no good reason, all three come together.
Other Odgen Nash poems
You may recognize this from Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
Candy
Is dandy
But liquor
Is quicker.
And this is a good one for the occasion
I hope my tongue in prune juice smothers,
If I belittle dogs and mothers.I think that I shall never see a billboard lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall, I’ll never see a tree at all.
The Good Life
In my experience, things that are both inspiring and frightening are the most sustaining. So I hope everyone had a great mother’s day!
-Mike
I read this poem in a poetry book from my high school library. I was so amazed at something this rediculous being published, that I remember it, still. I’m now 67 years old & still quote it.
It’s not by Ogden Nash.