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 –
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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 😉