Poems with Lois Letchford: The Ice Cream Man

22 Oct 2020 · 1 min

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1:04

In this YouTube video, Lois Letchford—author of Reversed: A Memoir and self‑described literacy problem solver—reads her poem "The Ice Cream Shop" from the collection Falling Up. The poem depicts a whimsical circus train that stops at a 52‑flavour ice‑cream stand, where a menagerie of animals (a gorilla, ocelot, canary, toad, lion) each demand a different flavor. The ice‑cream man declares that without a dime, no ice‑cream will be given. The animals then unleash a cacophony of sounds and devour the entire stand, adding the ice‑cream man himself as the 53rd "flavor." The reading concludes with a brief call to action—asking viewers to like, subscribe, and share—followed by a friendly sign‑off encouraging enjoyment of poetry.

Chapters

Hello, I'm Lois Letchford, author of the book Reversed: A Memoir and literacy problem solver, reading from Falling Up. And the poem today is The Ice Cream Shop. The circus train made an ice cream stop at the 52-flavour ice cream stand. The animals all got off the train and walked right up to the ice cream man. I'll take vanilla! yelled the gorilla. I'll take chocolate! shouted the Ocelot. I'll take strawberry! chirped the Canary. Rocky Road! croaked the Toad. Lime and lemon! growled the Lion. Said the ice cream man, till I see a dime, you'll get no ice cream of mine! Then the animals snarled and screeched and growled and whinnied and whimpered and hooted and howled and gobbled up the whole ice cream stand. Or 52 flavours. 53 with the ice cream man. Thank you. Hit like, hit subscribe, and share it. Enjoy poetry.