I, too, grew up in Boston, and have never heard of this variation on the penny-picking poem.

On a completely unrelated note, there is a little poem germane to Boston, that many Bostonians don't even know (I was once on the local TV news reciting it).

The tallest building in Boston, for those who've been there in recent decades, is the John Hancock Tower - the emormous glass plank near Copley Square, in whose shadow I was reared. Near it is the old Hancock Tower, much shorter, with a tall spire, which contains a long light which can be illuminated in different colors - the colors corresponding to the weather forecast, thusly:

Blue, blue, clouds are few
Flashing blue, clouds are due
Red, red, rain ahead
Flashing red, snow instead
Except in the summer, when flashing red means the Red Sox game is rained out.

Some have argued against the inclusion of the last line, as it breaks the meter, but it is vital to an understanding of the thing.

Are there other such bits of local folkloric poetry where other AWADers live?