Teddy Bear's Alphabet Tea

Last week my friend Faye set a kitchen timer for five minutes. "Freewrite until you hear the bell," she told us. "The subject is 'teddy bear.'"

Some twenty years ago or more, Faye was a student in my creative writing class. Now, with the tables turned, she instructs a group of writers who meet once a week at our local senior center.

The following children's poem exists as a result of that activity. I hope you will read it to a little person you love, and tell me how it went. (And thanks to Beanie Baby "Miami," who agreed to pose here for purposes of illustration.)

Teddy Bear 's Alphabet Tea

Teddy bear,

Find a chair.

Grab that one right over there.

A-B-C

Sit with me,

And have a cup of tea.

Teddy bear,

We're a pair!

How we love to sip and share!

D-E-F-G

This can be

Such fun, as you will see!

Teddy bear,

I don't care

If you just sit there still and stare.

H-I-J

We can play

This party game all day.

Teddy bear,

If there's a tear

Upon your head below your hair--

K-L-M-N--

I can mend

The hole for you, my friend. 

Teddy bear,

Where oh where

Is heaven, and can we go there?

O-P-Q-R

Can we go far

And wish upon a star?

Teddy bear,

Do you dare

To let me see inside your lair?

S-T-U-V

And will there be

Vast treasures hidden there?

Teddy Bear,

A lovely air

Is lilting 'round us everywhere.

W-X-Y-Z

I hear and see

Magic when you play with me.