Charlie Poem by Leonard McGee

Back when I was young,
and not too bright
My mother brought her
friend Charlie home one night
First she introduced him to my
brother then to me
I’m not sure I had
to be about three
I could have been four,
my brother and I were at war
Daily battles all over the table,
all over the floor
Finally she got Charlie just when
she couldn’t take it no more

Once Charlie came through the
door the world changed
The two of us became so well
behaved people thought it was strange
After about a good week
the kid we couldn’t play with began to speak
Once we learned to say Sir, Madam,
and thanks their parents spoke too
All they could ask was what has
gotten in to the both of you

We had become our
brothers’ keeper so much so
That we told our faithful followers
what they shouldn’t do anymore
When they questioned us
why we’d say Charlie said so

By the end of the summer all
of the neighbors had heard
A hundred stories which recall
what Charlie said word for word


Grownup’s began to wonder about
this man no one had met
But to ask a single woman about a
gentleman caller was politically incorrect

This was especially true
when it came to my mama,
If you put your nose into her
business it was going to be drama
No reliable gossip put
her name in their mouth,
They didn’t want my
mama coming to their house

The suspense continued
without end until the day
My mothers’ new boy friend took
us to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs play
As he dropped off our friends he
had to tell people his name was Roosevelt
And explained that Charlie was just a
nick name for an old leather belt