I have a dog.
His name is Fred.
He won't play fetch.
He won't play dead.

He won't shake hands
or sit or stay
or bark or beg
or run and play.

He won't roll over,
jump or crawl.
In fact, he won't
do tricks at all.

When people ask
I tell them that's
because my dog
was raised by cats.

--Kenn Nesbitt

Teachers may find this information useful. Please note that Lexile Measures are intended for prose, not poetry. So, technically, the Lexile Measure of any poem should be NP (for non-prose). Nevertheless, this information is frequently requested, so I provide the Lexile Measure for this poem as if it were prose. The Grade Level Average, below, may be a more accurate guide to the reading level of this poem.