Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It 

by Gail Carson Levine

The title seems a little tricky and when I read the Contents page, it looked like some sort of puzzle because the only title listed is “This Is Just to Say” in different fonts with different page numbers, except for the Introduction, which is on page 18. But no. It is no mistake. All of the poems in this book have the same title. And yes, the Introduction is on page 18, after the fifth poem in the book. Hmmm. Something tells me Ms. Levine is playing with me. She explains that the poems in the book are false apology poems – poems that resemble an apology from a writer who is not remorseful at all - modeled after a false apology poem by William Carlos Williams in content and structure.

The poems in this collection are witty and entertaining and allude to other tales such as Snow White, Pinocchio, Jack and Jill, and Cinderella. [metafiction] The drawings complement the poems and help crystallize the characters’ emotions and circumstances for each. This book would be a good resource for teaching a poetry unit to students 10 – 14 because the structure is easy to follow and students can get creative with their false apologies. 

Levine, G. C. (2012). Forgive me, I meant to do it. New York, NY: Harper Collins Children.