Take the thing into your hands

Take the thing into your hands
and open it.
You can open it anyway you like.
Many people say that there is a front
and a back
A right way up
and an upside down
But don’t be put off by that.
You can open it anyway you like.
You see that door in the side of your head?
Open it.
Now, move the thing in your hands
in any way you like:
Side to side, round and round,
over and over.
Perhaps you’ll see that there are
sheets that can be turned over.
You can turn them over and back
You can also hold it still
and move your head.
You can hold your head still
and move your eyes.

Has anything started to come through
the door?
I hope so.
If things do start coming through
the door
I’m fairly sure that they will
start dancing in the room inside.
or sitting on the chairs.
or standing on the table.
or shouting.
or being rude to people you don’t like.
or even being rude to people you do like.
or kissing.
or dying.
or going on a boat.
or taking things out of their pockets
and showing them to you.
Some of these things
you may have never seen before.
But now you know them.
Some are as familiar to you as potatoes.
but these potatoes are different.

When you get tired of all this
why not put down the thing in your hands?
And close the door.
Some of the things that came inside
will stay.
You may well start dressing them up
in things that you like.
You might change the tune they were
dancing to.
You might ask them to keep
taking things out of their pockets.
One day
you might find yourself saying the same
rude things.
Or you might change the words round
to make them ruder.
You might go on the boat.
You might start kissing.
I won’t say anymore about what else you might do.

If you’ve liked doing all this
I think you’ll probably try to take
another one of these things into your hands
and start all over again.
And then the things that come through
the door the next time
will meet the people who came through
the door last time.
You may even start turning them into each
other.
Look, there’s a man hiding under a sheep
so that a giant won’t eat him.
And there’s a boy running away from
a giant down a beanstalk.
And now you’ve gone and made the man under
the sheep
run down a beanstalk.

Well, well, well.

© Michael Rosen 2007

Michael Rosen appears at The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival on October 5, 6 and 7
Call 01242 227979
www.cheltenhamfestivals.com

Times Recommends

• The Sunday Times 100 best holiday reads
• What will we be reading this summer: the booksellers predict
• Literary festivals: a survivor’s guide