Barmy Birthday
Listen to John ...
It is my mother’s birthday,
I bought my mum a goat,
Apparently I heard her wrong,
She’d asked me for a coat!
It’s nibbling the curtains,
The carpeting as well,
We have to hold our noses,
There’s a ghastly goaty smell!
So if you ask your mother
What she wants for her birth-day,
Please listen very carefully
To what she has to say!
I bought my mum a goat,
Apparently I heard her wrong,
She’d asked me for a coat!
It’s nibbling the curtains,
The carpeting as well,
We have to hold our noses,
There’s a ghastly goaty smell!
So if you ask your mother
What she wants for her birth-day,
Please listen very carefully
To what she has to say!
This poem is copyright (©) John Dredge 2026
About the Writer
John Dredge
John Dredge has had his work broadcast on BBC Radio London and BBC 6Music. He has been published in The Manchester Post, The Morecambe Poetry Festival Anthology, and the Dirigible Balloon children’s anthology Sky Surfing. He has also had work shown as part of an exhibition run by The Poetry Society.
