Saturday, January 9, 2010

The Alligator’s Swamp Jungle Ball

It was winter in the jungle,
It was winter in the swamp,
And the alligator was all a-glum.
The dreary days depressing,
The gator was regressing,
Yes, the gator was all a-glum.

The gator all depressed,
The gator all repressed,
Decided to be the one to lift the pall.
So he shook away the slime,
Out the swamp himself did climb,
And resounded with a rascally call.

It is about the time, my friends,
It is about the time, my friends,
To break down this awful winter wall.
So today I do announce,
So today I do pronounce,
The Alligator’s Swamp Jungle Ball.

And the drummers were a drummin’,
And the singers were a hummin’,
For the Alligator’s Swamp Jungle Ball.

And so they did come,
And so they did come,
Fat and skinny, wide and narrow, short and tall.
With fur, fin and feather,
They braved the winter weather
For the Alligator’s Swamp Jungle Ball.

And oh, they did dance!

They danced the Raccoon Rap.
The Chihuahua Cha-cha.
The Rattlesnake Stomp.
The Crocodile Rock.
The Walrus Waltz.
And the Python Pirouette.

And the drummers were a drummin’,
And the singers were a hummin’,
For the Alligator’s Swamp Jungle Ball.

They danced the Turtle Twist.
The Blackbird Boogie.
The Lizard Jerk.
The Swamp Zombie Samba.
The Monkey Minuet.
The Hippo Hat Dance.

And the drummers were a drummin’,
And the singers were a hummin’,
For the Alligator’s Swamp Jungle Ball.

They danced the Owl Macarena.
The Tango of the Tiger.
The Anteater’s Electric Slide.
The Cancan of the Toucan.
The Salsa of the Llama.
And the Pachyderms’ Conga Line.

And the drummers were a drummin’,
And the singers were a hummin’,
For the Alligator’s Swamp Jungle Ball.

They danced upon the lawn,
They danced until the dawn,
At the Alligator’s Swamp Jungle Ball,
Yes, they danced,
At the Alligator’s Swamp Jungle Ball.

(Poet’s note: This was done for the High Calling Blogs’ Bi-Monthly RAP, or Random Act of Poetry, in which we were challenged to write a poem about an animal, a party and a setting.) (I got carried away.)

17 comments:

  1. Thanks for this lovely winter gala ... and the smile!

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  2. Carried away to absolute delight!

    I want to sing and dance and clap reading this. I can hear it in my head.

    I can imagine this as a children's book (or as part of a children's poetry anthology), each verse illustrated in the most wonderful images that you've created here.

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  3. My speciality is the Hippo Hat Dance. I enjoyed getting warm whilst laughing and doing a little demo just now. Thank you.

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  4. I'm going to come back and read this with Fynn tomorrow when he's awake :) He would love it!

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  5. oh glynn...

    that was a fun time!!!

    and everyone was there :-)

    i got carried away right along with you and everyone else.

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  6. I'm with Maureen on this one - the entire time I was reading I kept thinking - this would have been a great story to read to my kids when they were younger. As a teacher, I can tell you, it's good stuff.

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  7. That gave me the feeling that even I can dance, if only for a moment! Fabulous!

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  8. Who can resist the swamp zombie samba??

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  9. Glen, my friend, you just wrote a children's poem. You are now, officially, a great writer.

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  10. Ah, laughter, the place where exercise and joy collide. What fun!

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  11. Oh, and where do I find these prompts? I'm still figuring out RAP.

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  12. I haven't been to your site before. I read the poem and agree with others, it's meant to be a children's book. Such wonderful visual descriptions. What a gift you have!

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  13. Glynn, this poem is outstanding. Reminds me so much of my favorite poet of all time . . . Shel Silverstein. And other comments are absolutely spot on, this needs--begs--to be a children's book. Find yourself a good illustrator and go for it! I'm serious.

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  14. Have you ever read/seen Graeme Base's picture books? I read this and imagined him illustrating it!

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  15. I'm dancing, and I'm rejoicing!
    Blessings, Glynn!

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