Catch a Little Rhyme

By Eve Merriam 1916–1992 Eve Merriam

Once upon a time

I caught a little rhyme

I set it on the floor

but it ran right out the door

I chased it on my bicycle

but it melted to an icicle

I scooped it up in my hat

but it turned into a cat

I caught it by the tail

but it stretched into a whale

I followed it in a boat

but it changed into a goat

When I fed it tin and paper

it became a tall skyscraper

Then it grew into a kite

and flew far out of sight ...

Eve Merriam, “Catch a Little Rhyme” from Catch a Little Rhyme (New York: Atheneum, 1966). Copyright © 1966, 1994 by Eve Merriam. Reprinted with the permission of Marian Reiner.

Source: The Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children’s Poems (1999)

Biography

According to Eve Merriam, the choice to be a poet was not her own. From her earliest years, the rhythmic, rhyming nature of poetry impassioned her so much that being a poet was something of a necessity for her. "I find it difficult to sit still when I hear poetry or read it out loud. I feel a tingling feeling all over, particularly in the tips of my fingers and in my toes, and it just seems to go right from my mouth all the way . . .

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