Mindful Poetry: Sweet Tooth by Russell Edson
Halloween is just a few days away which means candy, candy, CANDY!
Halloween can be a lesson in overindulgence for our kids, after all who hasn’t suffered a stomachache from a binge into their Halloween spoils?
Because of that I wanted to find a poem that deals with sweets and giving into our impulses for this week’s mindful poem.
What I managed to find was a poem that touches on both of those things while also touching on respecting other people’s boundaries.
Sweet Tooth by Russell Edson explores what harm we can cause when we let our impulse control slacken, while also allowing us to meditate on the only person who truly has any control over our thoughts: ourselves.
Take time to remind yourself today that regardless of how much someone else’s behavior may bother us, the only person you can do any good “pulling” on is you!
Sweet Tooth
Russell Edson
A little girl made of sugar and spice and everything nice was eaten by someone with a sweet tooth the size of an elephant’s tusk.
Ah, he said, this darn tooth, it’s driving me nuts.
Then another voice is heard. It’s the little girl’s father who says, have you seen a little girl made of sugar and spice and everything nice?--Incidentally, what’s that thing sticking out of your mouth like an elephant’s tusk?
My sweet tooth, and it’s really driving me nuts.
You ought to see a dentist.
But he might want to pull it, and I don’t like people pulling at me. If they want to pull they should pull at their own pullables.
So true, said the little girl’s father, people should pull at their own pullables and let other people's pullables alone. But still, he asked again, I wonder if you’ve seen a little girl made of sugar and spice and everything nice?
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