Coal in My Stocking
A Funny Christmas Poem for Kids
Coal in the stocking
that’s hung up for me.
Coal in my packages
under the tree.
Coal for my sister
and coal for my brother.
Coal for the baby,
and father and mother.
Santa, it seems, traveled
down from The Pole,
bringing us nothing
but presents of coal.
No one’s been naughty.
We haven’t been whiners.
Santa’s new elves just
all used to be miners.
— Kenn Nesbitt
Copyright © 2014. All Rights Reserved.
Reading Level: Grade 2
Topics: Christmas, Holiday Poems, Poems about Friends and Family, Seasonal Poems
Poetic Techniques: Repetition
About This Poem
When I was a kid, my parents told me every year that if I didn't behave I was going to get nothing but coal in my stocking. I wasn't really sure what exactly coal was; I heard about it, but I had never seen it. I probably wasn't the best-behaved child ever, but I guess I must have been good enough to be on Santa?s ?Nice List,? because I never got coal in my stocking. Either that, or maybe there were a lot of other kids who were worse than me that Santa ran out of coal and had to give me toys. I did sometimes get some presents that I didn?t want, which is why I wrote the poem, ?I Thought it Was a Basketball.? And I?m old enough that, when I was a kid, we didn?t have video games or electronics, which is why I wrote ?Electronic Christmas.? In any case, I hope you enjoy this poem, and that you never get coal in your stocking for Christmas.
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