Henry Hanger Poem by Pamela lutwyche

Henry is a coat hanger. He lives in Mr Holmes’ wardrobe. Henry thinks he is king of all the coat hangers. When Mr Holmes opens the door of the wardrobe, Henry wiggles from side to side and says. “Oh look at me.” Henry thinks himself to be beautiful. If Mr Holmes has something he wants to hang up, Henry always thinks it should be hung on him. Mr Holmes thinks Henry is so cute with his shimmering and shaking, that Mr Holmes does put lots of things on Henry, which means Henry is getting rather heavy. Henry has two pairs of trousers over his bar and three ties. On his shoulders is a shirt, jumper and a jacket.

Now, you would think Henry would be satisfied with the amount of clothes he is taking care of for Mr Holmes. No he is not. Henry wants to look after more and some of the other hangers do not have anything to look after at all.
The other hangers are getting fed up with Henry not sharing. Harry hanger shouts to Henry, “You are greedy with all those clothes on and you look ridiculous, you should learn to share, you can’t take any more weight! ” Henry just waggles his hook back at Harry and says, “Mind your own business.”
Harry replies, “I am only trying to help you.”
Soon, the wardrobe door opens. There stands Mr Holmes with a big long coat in his hand. Henry starts shaking. The coat looks so elegant. Henry wants that coat; he has to wear that coat.

“PLEASE PUT THAT COAT ON ME, PUT THAT COAT ON ME, PLEASE, ”
HE PLEADS.

So, Mr Holmes put the coat on Henry.
“I must really look lovely, ” he mutters.
Well, Harry shouts, “No I don’t think you do.”
Henry pushes open the door of the wardrobe, heavy now with all the clothes, he struggles out and goes to look in the mirror.
“Well, ” he exclaims, “I am beautiful, I look so handsome.”
And then he does a slow twirl. If he goes too fast he will fall over from the weight he is carrying. Henry bounces back into the wardrobe and he hangs himself back on the rail, but with the weight of him now, Henry feels a crack in his hook. It is only a small crack, but Henry panics. He starts to get the clothes off as fast as he can. Henry gives away all his clothes to the other hangers, except for one pair of trousers which was not that heavy to do him any harm.
From here on after, when Mr Holmes opens the door of the wardrobe, Henry will not wiggle about, shimmer or shake. Henry will stay quite still.

Henry has now learned to share.


Henry, Henry, Henry
Don’t be silly now,
You can’t take all that weight
You certainly can’t, no how
Learn to give and share
Just hold a little bit
Learn to know
When to stop
Just learn, when to quit.
Henry Hanger