Katydid and Tree Frog came to play.
They wouldn't want it another way.
Frog said, "I got jacks. You lose Kates!"
Katydid pulled aces on top of eights,
and Tree Frog blew him away.
Jack Frost coughs he feels ill
And kinda off more than a chill
Jack Daniel’s introduced
No longer has the flu
Head spins sloppy drunk with thrill
Jack, Jack, Jack and jack, what about me, my name is Jill
I’m only mentioned once, when we climbed up the hill ,
Then Jack fell, and broke his crown, I was filled with dread,
So tumbled after him, but he had gone to bed,
To bandage his head.
Jack Sprat and his wife, one ate no fat and the other no lean,
So hence left their platter void of food and always clean,
So, I suggested to his wife to keep slim, to do some running
Down the street, to lose the weight
She ate.
And Jack Horner who only sat in a corner, I felt that was cruel,
Told him to tell his teacher that he would quit school,
He was never again, to be made a fool.
As for Jack be nimble, I mentioned that as he was always quick,
I would nurse him if he broke his ankle jumping over the candle wick,
So now I no longer feel a little jealous, as I have taken Charles's tip,
I tried to help the first Jack, but did get involved with the other three,
I now feel good, my name is Jill and I hope you agree.
Now give me a giggle,
Hey diddle diddle
Competition entry:Jill Nursery Rhyme Poetry Concert
Sponsor:Charles Messina
Date; 03/11/2024
The jacks are frolicking again I heard TomTom yell.
We ran outside to see the result of the witches’ spell.
Jack-o-lanterns were sitting quietly not doing a thing.
Come on! Dance! Yelped TomTom, and do it with zing.
The jacks sat silently, not moving the least little bit.
TomTom stomped off angry after throwing a baby fit.
Gossipy cat was not happy, and frankly, neither was I.
I had been in the middle of eating my warm pumpkin pie.
A Box of Jacks
A box of fun,
popcorn and nuts,
a prize,
all to be
shared.
A simple pleasure,
a memory,
an event,
to be treasured,
not measured
but looked back upon
when we are long passed
the point of childhood altogether,
and are desperate
to be more child-like,
than adult.
Embracing the magic of life,
takes turns at every age,
like skipping rocks on water,
and whispers in the dark,
from a lark,
a happy bird.
Life is so short,
time is so fleeting,
the meeting of the two
a heartbreak,
at daybreak,
unless embraced
beyond forever
into eternity,
in service
to Our Lord.
Just a box of popcorn,
a whole world experienced
in a single moment,
that changes everything
to come thereafter,
here,
there,
and
ever...
after.
Uncle Jack decided to surprise me at school
Wore his new Halloween costume
Of himself being caged and carried by a gorilla
He thought I would laugh.
I followed the lead of the other kindergarteners.
We screamed and clutched each other in terror.
The teacher could not calm us down.
Uncle Jack apologized over and over.
I thought it was terrific!
Kindergarten had never been this fun!
I remember it well that October night
Meteors aligned tipped like candelabra lights
I'm sitting in my outhouse under a hakka lantern
Yea, in Guangxi Province, pending storm concerns
Kinda spooky feeling magnetic electric zipping
Need to lay of the 'Jacks' feels like I'm tripping
It's like a potion to me, it brings me to likes edge
Thankfully the 'Moor' in me, saves me from the ledge
Wow, crash boom bang, thunder clap new, mun!
Blimey, bloody broom noisy, just like my neighbour
Erratic lightning laylines break open Eastern skies
Suddenly a shadow in the corner, and I ff'ing swore!
My legs aren't even moving but this misty fog lures I
Bleary eyes focusing at, at, this Succubus, she
On the Radio 'Wake me I am dreaming' by the 'Love Affair'
Minds guising disguising, just what is 'Jacks' streaming
I awake in the morn, wondering what went the night before
Elves, Goblins, Fairies or could it be the Jinn Genie!
Blimey if I was worth my weight in salt, I'd go to church
But if I told this story when younger, I'd sure have got the birch.
Though it's been decades and a million one-eyed jacks ago.
I can still remember them coming into the casino from the cold.
A weathered, silver-haired lady and a younger man.
Both dressed in beat-up blue jeans and plaid shirts.
I guessed they were mother and son. But I could have been wrong.
They pooled their money at a low-stakes blackjack table.
They were humble and pleasant, unlike the rest of us.
They ordered sodas unlike the rest of us.
They always bet the minimum, like most of us.
Depending upon the ebb and flow of the game,
they would slide 5$ chips back and forth to one another.
They ran into a cold table, colder than the outside they came from.
They didn't last very long at the table; nobody really does.
They slowly drained their sodas and were gone.
For a short while afterwards, there was still a hint of swisher sweets,
perhaps a little bull thistle and mint in between.
I like to think they broke even, but I know they didn't.
what if the push that you had had left
holding oooh so tightly
and letting out all breath
i have never been above the bottom
no need to take that call
no-one i want with me
nowhere left to fall
Jack was always a happy soul,
Just a shop boy with a sweetheart.
When the war called men and boy
Their lives were torn apart.
He wrote letters to his sweetheart
Saying we'll be married someday.
he wrote letters to his mother
And Inquired about her day
he would write to his little brother
telling of the horrors that he saw.
And of how the bloody fighting wasn’t
the only killer in that war.
Taking boys as young as fourteen,
hunger and disease had played a part.
While loved ones filled with sorrow,
Had died with a broken heart.
Then came the fateful day
his loved ones had lived to dread.
All of the letters they had sent,
come back unopened and unread.
MIA
they wrote his heartbroken family
their kin was lost to war.
They never found his body,
Coming home, he never saw.
A young man of just nineteen,
They had named him jack.
They lent him to the army,
And never got him back!
I’ve got a thirteen year old
His name is Jack
Never does what he’s told
He always answers back
He won’t go to school
He always tells lies
He thinks he’s really cool
I don’t understand why
The streets he always roam
Drinking with his friends
Never will come home
Not until the party ends
His room is never clean
He’s never heard of Mr. Sheen
He calls my wife mean
Yeah that’s right mean old Jean
Never talks always shouts
Thinks it’s good to swear
Even with his Grandparents about
He really doesn’t care
In trouble with the police
Arrested all the time
Once he slapped my niece
And thought it was fine
I bought him a motorbike
He always drinks and drives
He said I’ll do what I like
He doesn’t care about staying alive
He thinks life’s a joy
And through it he’ll sail
If you don’t behave my boy
You will end up in jail.
there was a woodsman called jacks
who swung the worlds sharpest axe
one or two chops thats all
giant fir trees would fall
that's the fun fallen fir facts
there is a craving
in my heart
an anticipation
that keeps me going
propulses me
to greet each morning
with the same excitement
and childlike hope
as when I'd open
that new box of
Cracker Jacks
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
A Bag of Jacks
In place upon the pavement and sun upon my back
Within my hand there jangles a little bag of jacks
Along with friends to watch or even have a play
The little bag is opened, the jacks are disarrayed
All eyes are cast upon their pattern on the ground
A little rubber ball within the flimsy bag is found
And the game begins when the rubber ball is bounced
Then rapid grab to pick up jacks and after do a count
Deft is the hand that gets the jacks as well as catch the ball
The winner is the one who’s first to get them all
And many an hour was spent playing this same old game
And better came the catching with a happiness inflamed
Under the warming sun of summer upon the dusty path
Just a little bag of treasure with which to have a laugh
Now distant memories etched in the fuzzy lapse of time
When the age of childhood pleasure was firmly in its prime
Jacks are played in Israel.
Jacks are played in Spain.
Jacks are played in Texas
And in the Florida rain.
Jacks are played in Korea
And played by kids like us.
Jacks are played in Hawaii.
Stop making all that fuss!
Jacks are played in Singapore.
Somalia and Zimbabwe too.
Jacks are played in Trinidad.
And probably Timbuktu.
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