then a crocodile
small and waving violets by the church
of children
###
This poem was written in response to Carpe Diem Special #143, Kala Ramesh’s “wild violets”, another great prompt hosted by Chèvrefeuille at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. All of the poems in the link-up can be read here. And, to finish, here’s T Rex –
IN MEMORY EVERYTHING SEEMS TO HAPPEN TO MUSIC -Tennessee Williams
Musings on poetry, language, perception, numbers, food, and anything else that slips through the cracks.
Scout's 20th Century Flash
the life and work of an sf author and his independent publishing company
Paloma's Pen
Poetry and Haiku - Looking to make the ordinary more than mundane.
Saving the world, one book sale at a time.
Japanese Lyrics, Poetry and Manga
a book review blog
A great WordPress.com site
A celebration of language and the written word (with a little art on the side).
Poetry and fiction by a physicist from the dark side
Stories, poems and thoughts about things I find interesting!
Learn Haiku Through Cartoons
"We're all out there, somewhere, waiting to happen."
Another haiku that stops me dead in my tracks! Predators come in all shapes and sizes – not all of them obvious, either, right? Good one 🙂
Thanks, Jen. Very true, and I wanted to play on that. Though this references another haiku I liked at CDHK months ago (about driving a car up a hill?), in which the 1st line was followed by a long 2nd line that broke the sense, before a small 3rd line referred back to the 1st line – so I actually saw a ‘crocodile’ of small children in the churchyard 🙂
Was wondering about that! The phrase “a crocodile of children” (or people, or whatever) isn’t common in the US. In fact, it’s new to me and has a sort of sinister overtone in a weird way. Does it have the same feel ‘across the Pond’?
I really like the way you’ve structured this — it’s very clever!
And — btw – was listening to T.Rex for quite a while last night. 😀
Really? Oh that’s cool. I tend to think that T Rex don’t really translate across the pond that well – very quirky, camp, English. And great, of course 🙂
It’s normally children in a crocodile, since they walk along in big groups holding hands. Adults less so lol. And it’s a fairly common idea over here. I normally think it has a fantasy aspect rather than sinister, but of course it can be interpreted like that. To me, it seems like a piece of folk poetry embedded in the language – a ‘crocodile of children’, what an image! It’s like ‘raining cats and dogs’ – I mean, who dreamed that up? Beautiful 🙂
Oh, it is a great phrase! And so many of our idioms are quirky little poems when you look at them with fresh eyes…
You may be right about T Rex. Other than one song, I’ve heard nothing from them before. And hey – the eye-shadow was *fabulous*! Seriously – wish I could get away with that look 😉
Absolutely! I’m sure the world would be a better place if everyone wore glittery green eye-shadow 😉
One T Rex song?! Phew that’s pretty deprived :O
All we ever hear is “Bang a Gong”.
That’s it! Pitiful, pitiful!
Oh dear, oh dear [commiserating shake of head]. And to make matters worse, the song is actually called ‘Get it On’ but the name was changed for the US market because there was already a song in the US chart with that name. Ah well, hopefully you got to listen to some more classic T Rex the other night 🙂
Found some great T Rex mixes on YouTube. Then decided it would be great for the mp3 player .. And .. Um.. Yes.. Bought a CD … :O
It’s just fun ; what can I say 😉
Ah no explanations necessary! I’ve picked up numerous CDs after browsing for a song to post or visiting another site – like BIOLI, for instance 😉
Yay! I’m not the only one then! Woo hoo!
Hey, it’s fun to share your tunes, you know?
And I ended up buying some Rollins Band at the same time as the T Rex. (Couldn’t resist!) 😉
Changing topic abruptly, I just saw the CDHK prompt about “Blessed are the poor in spirit, etc”, and my first thought, literally, was ok Jen, no bringing in the cheese-makers 🙂
Aw, man! No cheesemakers?!? I’ll have to write a SERIOUS response? Where’s the fun in that?!? LOL!
The ‘cheesemakers’ isn’t meant to be taken literally, anyway – it refers to all manufacturers of dairy products. So yes, serious! [stern face] 😛
Aw, shucks 😛
I was on my best behavior – wagging my finger (roaring, actually) at social injustice. 🙂
Found some great T Rex mixes on YouTube. Then decided it would be great for the mp3 player .. And .. Um.. Yes.. Bought a CD … :O
It’s just fun ; what can I say 😉