The sun beamed through her window, and brightened up the air
When the mornings dim moon faded, she saw stardust everywhere
Her little nose softly whistled, and her eyelids gave a wink
When the lampposts in the garden, had all begun to blink
The sunflowers all popped up their heads, looking tall in all their poses
While the tulips and the daffodils, were mingling with the roses
My child woke up from her sleep, and fed water to the plants
Then she sprinkled stardust on them all, to watch them all wake up and dance
Peeking through my bedroom window, and watching my daughter having so much fun
I had to smile when I saw my child, laughing and waving to the sun
Good-bye she spoke in her meek-quiet voice, I'll see you again, Mr. Sun, real soon
But I have to go to school right now, so please come back this afternoon
So, when schooltime was over, and she was skipping her way back home
The sun popped out to stay with her, so she would not skip back alone
Whose baby is that? I think we know.
Her creators are quite aglow.
Full of joy like a vivid rainbow,
we watch her laugh as she cries hello.
Mom gives her a shake,
Baby laughs until her belly aches.
The only other sound's that break,
Are of distant birds who wake.
The baby is Luciana, LULU I take,
One day she will have many
promises to keep and a bed to make
After baby formula and lots of sleep.
Sweet dreams come to her very cheap.
She rises from her gentle bed,
With thoughts of nothing in her head,
One day, she will swap formula for hearty
bread and get ready for the many days ahead.
Thanksgiving Day is once again,
This time bringing a new friend.
Well, LULU this comes to tell you
That you’re lucky as can be
To become the newest member of so loving a family.
Lulu wanted this, that, those, these and the other.
Thought she deserved them, she dated a rich mother.
He liked tattoos, pretty soon her legs were tatted up.
So many tats, it rivaled the hair on her cat and pup.
Red tats, blue tats, yellow tats, purple tats, black tats too.
We asked her not to tell Grandma as she fixed our stew.
We had to all stop our concern and our ’n
When we saw Grandma’s legs out in the kitchen.
Grandma had six tats herself in pink and blue.
Not as much as you, she told Lulu.
But I am going to get them now, I bet.
The only one we saw cringing was Old crow, grandma’s pet.
Oh, Lulu, small but full of might
A ball of joy, my heart's delight
With tiny paws and ears so grand
You rule my home with soft command
Your playful barks, your dancing feet,
The way you curl up warm and sweet.
Big brown eyes that shine so bright
A spark of love, pure golden light.
Through every day, through every storm,
Your little heart beats soft and warm.
A fearless soul in such a size,
My dearest friend, my greatest prize
So here's to you, my precious girl
My tiny queen, my shining pearl.
Forever loved, forever true
My darling Lulu, this if for you.
Mulish pic-headed Lex was headstrong
Could never admit a mistake or being any way wrong
Opinionated, stubborn, and inflexible too
We set him up with our mean unbending Auntie Lulu.
She cast a spell, and turned nasty Lex immediately around.
A more compliant, agreeable man, cannot now be found.
Grandma Lulu loved to knit.
She was the knitting queen.
She has been doing this for ninety years.
Click. Click. Click. Click.Click.
She lived in a house full of yarns.
Baby yarns, skinny yarns, fluffy yarns, shiny yarns.
Yarns of many colors, light yarns, dark yarns, balls and skeins.
Knit purl purl knit; knit purl, purl, knit.
For Christmas we relatives got slippers.
Blue, yellow, orange, red, green, gray slippers.
Our babies got knitted layette sets.
Click. Click. Click. Click.Click.
She also created knitted Christmas ornaments.
Penguins, socks, or ruffled candy canes.
If you visited her, she never looked up.
You heard the constant click of her knitting needles.
The first thing we noticed after her funeral
Was the sad silence of her house; no longer a home.
Lulu was an unlucky woman
Lost three sons
one in a department store in 92
one in an ocean, deeply blue
Where’s the third one? I asked mutual friend, Old Sue
On the sidewalk, playing skip to my Lou
Both of the other boys found their way home too
One was fifty, the other was fifty-two
I barely recognized them said Lulu
This was told to me by story-teller Sue
painting brings Lulu such joy, she has more fun than others.
her fingers and wrists are full of paints of many colors
reds, oranges, greens, blues, yellows, tans the color of sands,
where is my silver? She wonders, studying her hands.
and gold, she says, where is my gold paint? She finds it finally.
Bringing her so much enjoyment, how much happier can she be?
she is always covered with paints, her grandma says, isn’t that great?
Her grandmother is an artist who still paints canvases at age ninety-eight.
I have a best friend named Madam Lulu
She's my good old faithful Cockapoo
Like sister and brother
We're there for each other
She makes the drabbest days sparkle like new
2/27/23
Lifeguard Lulu was a terrific find.
If she liked you and was truly kind.
If you teased her, she would let you float away.
Without guilt, each and every day.
She was good at saving children who were polite.
She would dive right in, if they were in sight.
But the ones who were bullies would wash downstream.
I hope they never come back! Lulu Lifeguard would scream.
I am allergic to greens, so none of that will do.
It is my persnickety picky-eating cousin, Lulu.
But surely you are not allergic to lettuce, I say.
Oh, yes, and green beans and peas. The radish can stay.
What about Brussel sprouts?
I am allergic to them too.
She says this with a lip that pouts.
My strange cousin Lulu.
What about celery, you are surely not allergic to that.
Oh, yes, I am, she says, and probably your dog and your cat.
Are you allergic to my husband? I ask, making a joke.
Most definitely and chicken and ham; they both make me choke.
My husband rolls his eyes but scoots off to his room.
Leaving me alone with our impossible guest. She is such a loon.
Can you have chocolate cake? I ask her, in the sweetest way.
That’s about all I eat, she tells me, so merry and gay.
And I bet you eat bread, I throw in, looking at her girth.
I have eaten all the bread I can between here and Perth.
I hear my husband snorting in the next room, next to the TV.
How much more transparent can that man try to be?
Aunt Lulu is brilliant, a genius.
Are you daft? She is insane.
Her ideas are innovative and selfless.
Her notions are nuttier than a walnut tree.
She is an enigma, elusive and enthusiastic.
Did you get the name right?
She is certifiable, headed for a psych ward.
I have her name and her number thank you.
She is the most intelligent woman I have met.
Did you ever meet our mother? She was the bright one.
Did you ever listen to Aunt Lulu? Did you ever hear her words?
Mom said she was crazy, and that’s good enough for me.
She is insanely sane.
She is a diabolical disaster, bipolar, on lithium.
And that makes her crazy?
Mom said she was; that is good enough for me.
Now who is the crazy one? Please give her a chance.
No thanks. My mind is made up.
There once was a fat lady called Lulu,
who liked to swim in the deep ocean blue;
in a bathing suit mini,
meant for a lady skinny;
one wave and her bikini went askew !
________________________
February 24, 2022
Poetry/Limerick/A Lady Called Lulu
Copyright Protected, ID 01-1433-346-24
All Rights Reserved, 2022, Constance La France
Written for the Standard contest, New Bawdy or Humorous Limerick
sponsor, Tania Kitchin, Judged 03/06/2022
Second Place
There was a ballerina named Lulu
Who wanted to go see Honolulu
She got such a deep tan
When before she was wan
Her friends renamed her Zanzibar Zulu
Lulu was Miss Moo-Moo's first baby calf
She wibbelly-wobbled through the straw
But when it came time for her oatmeal
She danced and pranced around the stall.
Miss Moo-Moo called her first baby Lulu
Because, she said, it rhymed with Moo-Moo
And when dancing little Lulu took a spill
Miss Moo-Moo said, “Lulu, you’d better chill!”
Farmer Brown loved Miss Moo-Moo and Lulu
And took especially good care of them both
He watched after Moo-Moo's every need
And kept a record of little Lulu’s growth.
Moo-Moo's pride, Lulu grew big and strong,
Like every young calf should do
She ate her breakfast and drank her milk
And every growing boy and girl should, too.
When Miss Moo-Moo and Lulu could pasture,
Mother and daughter, out in the meadow
Father Brown loved to watch them wander
He could see them from his veranda window.
SECOND PLACE WINNER
March 12, 2021
For "Nursery Rhyme Contest - 2"
Sponsored by Eve Roper
[Published in Nursery Rhymes & Stories From Poets Around the World, Eve Roper, Editor, Kindle Direct Publishing, 2021]
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