Poetry Month: On Friday We Get Pizza

It was true 50 years ago; it is true today. Friday is pizza day n the school cafeteria. I clearly remember the anticipation I felt as a student (and as a teacher) on Fridays, because I knew there was pizza in the oven for lunch. With April being Poetry Month, here is a poem from my book There's a Giant in My Classroom (Infinity Press) inspired by a lifetime of eating in school cafeterias. This poem has always proved popular with upper elementary school kids.

On Friday We Get Pizza

It’s Monday in the lunchroom,

And we kids are getting nervous.

We’re wondering what inedible

The cafeteria will serve us.

But we’re ready for most anything:

Rabbit tacos, candied beets-a.

We can get through Monday,

‘Cause on Friday we get pizza.

It’s Tuesday and we’re hungry.

Hear the rumbling in my belly?

Then as we get near the kitchen,

We whiff something foul and smelly.

But we’re ready for most anything:

Stewed moose jaw or pig’s feets-a.

We can get through Tuesday,

 “Cause on Friday we get pizza.

Now it’s Wednesday and we’re worried.

Yet we know we’re out of luck.

We just passed the kids from last lunch – 

They were running to up-chuck.

But we’re ready for most anything,

Even lumpy cream of wheats-a.

We can get through Wednesday,

‘Cause on Friday we get pizza.

It’s Thursday and we’re hangin’ in.

We know we’re getting close.

Then they hand me today’s lunch tray;

Looks like scrambled puke on toast.

But we’re ready for most anything:

Liver nuggets, mystery meats-a.

Yes, we can get through Thursday,

Cause on Friday we get pizza.

And now at last it’s Friday;

Our mood is cheerful and upbeat.

For most of us it’s been a week,

Since we had some lunch to eat.

So we wait calmly in the line;

We’ll be patient for our treats-a…

What? What’s that again? Oh, no!

You just ran out of pizza!!!!!

copyright 2013 by Russ Walsh