Naughty Caleb At The Zoo

• Hudson Meads, Grade 8
• Poetry
• 2010

Naughty Caleb
at the Zoo

HUDSON MEADS

One day, Caleb went to the zoo
His mum and dad came along too
But Caleb soon escaped their sight
And went to watch some lions fight

Caleb thought, ‘This is lame.
I want to join this vicious game!’
So before anyone could yell, “WAIT!!”
Caleb had climbed over the gate

Only then did he realise it was a stupid idea
What if the lions knocked him into next year?!
But he didn’t have time to think about that
Because a lion had just squashed him flat

Caleb got up and ran for his life
But got himself into even more strife
In front of him his parents stood
This was not going to be very good

“You stupid child! Insane little bum!
What you’ve been doing is indeed very dumb!
No punishment is quite enough
For a boy who does such stupid stuff!”

His parents could not believe what he’d done
And shook their heads at their son
But Caleb wasn’t at all sad
Because he knew he was just plain bad

He ran away, yet again
And that is when the fun began
He kicked a monkey up the butt
And snatched away a squirrel’s nut

He threw a meerkat like a ball
And laughed as it splattered on a wall
He dropped a boulder on a hippo’s head
And chuckled as it fell over dead

Next he went to the place of ice
Where the penguins happened to live their life
He grabbed some grass from the neighbouring cage
He lit a match in a laughing rage

The old dead grass became quickly alight
The penguins ran with terrible fright
Caleb continued to laugh and laugh
But then along came a tall giraffe!

It bent down its long, long neck
Which made Caleb yell, “HOLY HECK!!”
The giraffe head-butted Caleb through the sky
Then walked away with his head held high (Literally)
Caleb landed hard with a bump
He was sitting on a camel’s hump!
The camel gave a mighty jerk
Then it went completely berserk

Caleb flew off its back
And landed again with a WHACK!
He got up and looked around
He discovered he was in the Elephant Ground!

At him, a humungous elephant charged
And Caleb’s bruises were enlarged
There was a bang! There was a splat!
And Caleb’s life ended just like that

So that was the end of the naughty boy
(His happy parents jumped for joy)
For this punishment was enough
For a boy who did such stupid stuff