Messy Room
By: Shel Silverstein

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater’s been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are all jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
Donald or Robert or Willie or–
Huh? You say it’s mine? Oh, dear,
I knew it looked familiar!

This poem, Messy Room, was written by Shel Silverstein, who is one of my favorite poem writers and also wrote Where The Sidewalk Ends and The Giving Tree. I love this poem because, as a boy, I can relate to it. Of course my room is messy! Especially when my dog practically lives in it. I have a bad habit of whenever I change clothes, I throw the dirty ones wherever I want. On the basketball hoop, in the shower and under my bed. That’s how I get that messy room!

“dadadoodoododadoo-dadadoodoododado,” I remember, it was almost every day around 10am, that I would see, of course the newest and latest Thomas the Train episode. Now those… were the good times.

I would go to bed every night actually looking forward to something–waking up to that same show every morning, Thomas the Train. Every morning, wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, and lounge on the couch. Not only was Thomas the Train a TV show, but there were toys made after Thomas the Train. Thomas the Train hooked me right when the toys came out.

Thomas the Train toys had so many uses because they were almost indestructible. One, the obvious one, is using it as a train. Two, for a little game I played as a baby where you line up to trains, face to face, cock them back and run them into each other and which ever one falls on its back loses a point. I know this sounds like a stupid and useless, but to me, this game was the best.

From ages 2 to probably around 6, Thomas the Train was the have-to-watch show on TV. If I look in a box from the past, I’m pretty sure it would be filled with royal blue, royal blue Thomas the Train action figures. My obsession was an addiction.