Jon Corelis wrote:
> The first poems I experienced weren't in books. They were the
> children's rhymes, most of them jump-rope chants, I heard in earliest
> childhood. These poems are also among the ones I have the strongest
> memories of.
I wish I could say the same. Some stick, most are forgotten, and some
chants--not keyed to jumping rope--even today are prime examples of
urban filth. This is the one "proper" jump-rope chant I can recall:
Hello, hello, hello sir,
Meet me at the grocer.
No sir, no sir.
Why sir, why sir,
because I have a cold, sir,
because I have a cold, sir.
It's complete nonsense, but to paraphrase '50s parlance, it had a good
beat and you could jump to it.
Better things came from the streets back then, but I dare not repeat them.
Ken
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Ken Wolman http://bestiaire.typepad.com http://www.petsit.com/content317832.html
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"All writers are hunters, and parents are the most available prey."--Francine du Plessix Gray
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