Poems About Sandwiches

Poems about sandwiches are pretty rare, I think, so if you've never read a  poem about a sandwich, you're in for a special treat. Literally, that is. Have a seat, grab a napkin, and let's have some fun.

They're both by Shel Silverstein. Check them out and let us know what you think. You maybe tempted to run to the kitchen - or the nearest fast-food restaurant to make (or buy) yourself a delicious sandwich. So read these poems at your own risk.

The first one reads more like a short story, I think, so here you go!

Poems About Sandwiches

Peanut-Butter Sandwich

by Shel Silverstein (1932-1999)

I’ll sing you a story of a silly young king
Who played with the world at the end of a string,
But he only loved one single thing --
And that was just a peanut-butter sandwich.
His scepter and his royal gowns,
His regal throne and golden crowns
Were brown and sticky from the mounds
And drippings from each peanut-butter sandwich.
His subjects all were silly fools
For he had passed a royal rule
That all that they could learn in school
Was how to make a peanut-butter sandwich.
He would not eat his sovereign steak,
He scorned his soup and kingly cake,
And told his courtly cook to bake
An extra-sticky peanut-butter sandwich.
And then one day he took a bite
And started chewing with delight,
But found his mouth was stuck quite tight
From that last bite of peanut-butter sandwich.
His brother pulled, his sister pried,
The wizard pushed, his mother cried,
“My boy’s committed suicide
From eating his last peanut-butter sandwich!”
The dentist came, and the royal doc.
The royal plumber banged and knocked,
But still those jaws stayed tightly locked.
Oh darn that sticky peanut-butter sandwich!
The carpenter, he tried with pliers,
The telephone man tried with wires,
The firemen, they tried with fire,
But couldn’t melt that peanut-butter sandwich.
With ropes and pulleys, drills and coil,
With steam and lubricating oil --
For twenty years of tears and toil --
They fought that awful peanut-butter sandwich.
Then all his royal subjects came.
They hooked his jaws with grapplin’ chains
And pulled both ways with might and main
Against that stubborn peanut-butter sandwich.
Each man and woman, girl and boy
Put down their ploughs and pots and toys
And pulled until kerack! Oh, joy --
They broke right through that peanut-butter sandwich.
A puff of dust, a screech, a squeak --
The king’s jaw opened with a creak.
And then in voice so faint and weak --
The first words that they heard him speak
Were, “How about a peanut-butter sandwich?”

Recipe for a Hippopotamus Sandwich

A hippo sandwich is easy to make.
All you do is simply take
One slice of bread,
One slice of cake,
Some mayonnaise
One onion ring,
One hippopotamus
One piece of string,
A dash of pepper --
That ought to do it.
And now comes the problem...
Biting into it!

By Shel Silverstein

---

The Sandwich by Tony Bradman

The following poem is in a book called Twinkle Twinkle Chocolate Bar - I know, right! I love that title, too. (Link opens in a new window).

---

I Made Myself a Sandwich

I made myself a sandwich,

just the other day.

I never should have done it,

for now I’m stuck this way.

 — Kenn Nesbitt

Copyright © 2018. All Rights Reserved.

We hope you enjoyed these fun sandwich poems. We have to admit, too, that we're a little intrigued about the notion of sandwich poems. So we decided to have a little fun and come up with a few of our own. 

We will say that we got a little (or maybe more than a little -- okay, a lot) of help from AI. It was fun though....., don't judge. You can find the poems we collaborated with our new AI friend here. 

For the first two, we asked it to write poems about families who love sandwiches. We edited them to the get something we liked a little better -- still corny and fun. The third one is the best, at least we think so.

Head on over there to see what you think about them. You can add a comment, either here below, or at the end of the other page, with your thoughts. Or you can even share your own sandwich poetry endeavors with us. We'd love to read them! 

A quick word. This page may contain affiliate links. 

Would you like to share a comment about the poems above? Or maybe you've written a poem and would like to share it with our visitors. Use the comment form below to add your comment or poem.

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