Poetry Friday: Judith Viorst: Fifty States

Someday Someone Will Bet That You Can't Name All Fifty States

by Judith Viorst

from Sad Underwear and Other Complications (1995)

California, Mississippi,
North and South Dakota.
New York, Jersey, Mexico, and
Hampshire. Minnesota.
Vermont, Wisconsin, Oregon,
Connecticut, and Maine.
Hawaii, Georgia, Maryland.
Virginia (West and plain).
Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas,
Illinois, Alaska.
Colorado, Utah, Florida,
Delaware, Nebraska.
The Carolinas (North and South).
Missouri. Idaho.
Plus, Alabama, Washington,
And Indiana. O-
klahoma. Also Iowa,
Arkansas, Montana,
Pennsylvania, Arizona,
And Louisiana.
Ohio, Massachussetts, and
Nevada. Michigan,
Rhode Island, and Wyoming. That
makes forty-nine. You win
as soon as you say _________.

This week's round up is at The Miss Rumphius Effect.