The Dirigible Balloon
Poetry for Children

If I Could Be

Listen to Templeton read his poem ...
If I could be a platypus
I’d wear a purple hatypus.
Can you imagine thatypus?

Or if I were an elephant
I’d ring a little bellephant,
But—boy!—my feet would smellephant.

And if I were a porcupine
My friend would be a storkupine.
We’d eat lunch with a forkupine.

Or what about a wildebeest?
That sure would be a thrilldebeest.
And you could call me Billdebeest.

And if I were a yellow-bellied sapsucker
I could…er…um…
Never mind.

About the Writer


Templeton Moss

Templeton grew up in and around San Diego County, California in the U.S.A. He lives and works in Louisville, Kentucky, but considers Disneyland to be his hometown. He started writing because he thought it would get girls to like him. He has written many plays, novels, short stories and poems and his hobbies include naps and cartoons. Templeton dislikes manual labour and country music.