Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor top of page | cover page

Hello and welcome to a very special issue of Pezhead Monthly. This month's issue features a collection of poems that together make up the 2006 Pez Poetry Slam. A big round of thanks are due to this year's Pez Poetry Slam contributors: Sheila Jordan, Randy Owens, and M.T. Chambers.

In other Pez news, I recently traveled up to Chicago for the Chicago Toy Show. Although it was a little cold, I saw a lot of great classic toys, including Pez, and I even ran into some fellow Pezheads up there. It was a lot of fun and I came home with a few neat Pez finds, such as a Giant Elephant, a 3-Piece Witch, and the new OCC Pez tin.

I hope you enjoy this year's Pez Poetry Slam. Thanks for reading and see you next month!

Joe Durrant
Editor, Pezhead Monthly
joe@pezheadmonthly.com

2006 Pez Poetry Slam top of page | cover page

This fifth annual Pez Poetry Slam is the biggest one yet. Sixteen poems are featured this year in a variety of styles and from a variety of contributors. A note of gratitude is due to poets William Blake and Robert Frost, whose poems are the inspiration for two poems featured here. And fans of actor/comedian Kevin Pollak may recognize a small homage as well.

This year's Pez Poetry Slam graphic focuses on the "slam" aspect of the experience. You can click on it for a larger view.

And now... sit back, relax, and prepare to dive headfirst into a world of Pez Poetry!

The Tiger Whistle

Tiger Whistle, roaring loud,
You are Pez and you are proud.
Who held you in such regard
So as to free you from your card?

In what distant land so fine
Were branded you a 4 point 9?
Who put those feet upon your stem?
What magic had inspired them?

And who decided that behind
Your head a whistle we would find?
How tempting was it, did they know,
For us to hold you up and blow?

What the spring, and what the pin?
What head to keep the candy in?
Made of orange, made of white,
A noble beast of such delight?

When first imagined as a draft,
And then made real by hand and craft,
Did they intend your trap to keep?
Did they not know you must be freed?

Tiger Whistle, roaring loud,
You are Pez and you are proud.
Who held you in such regard
So as to free you from your card?

Flip
By Sheila Jordan

Pez Haiku #68

November Seventh:
Throw the bums out of office;
Replace them with Pez.

A Simple Plea

O put me in the front row please,
I'm on my knees,
Give me the chance
To have this dance.

I know I'm not your newest find,
But I'm confined
In the back row,
Where life is slow.

Just once I'd like to be the one
Who's out in front,
And noticed as
A special Pez.

OCC

You down with OCC?
Well you know me.
How could I be?
The humanity!

When I heard the news,
It gave me the blues,
No one else they could choose?
I thought it a ruse.

See, Pez made it a rule-
No humans, you fool,
And it wouldn't be cool
In fact, maybe cruel.

But thirty years passed,
The rule didn't last,
Three bikers came fast
And their faces were cast.

So you see then, my friend,
Once you find these tins,
Whether you frown or you grin,
Humanity wins.

Now I know the joys,
Of these candy toys,
So I made a choice
To raise up my voice.

And I'm down with OCC
Yeah, you know me.
Because frankly, you see,
New Pez is a treat.

Three Choices

O give me liberty or give me death,
Or maybe give me candy breath.
It's freedom or demise,
Or sugar prize.

If option three,
Just one more thing for me:
A Pez a day until I die,
So that this prison life won't pass me by.

The 2006 Pez Poetry Slam continues on Page 3

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