An eager man sought information
on fiddlers and frogs. Consternation
had muddled his head.
“Can’t help you,” I said.
He eyed me with disapprobation!
“You DON’T know?” he said, unbelieving.
Insulted, I planned on deceiving.
I spun a wild plot
but told him “It’s not
made up." Such a tale I was weaving:
“A frog and a fiddler switched places.
Their antics brought smiles to the faces
of all those nearby—”
Then came his outcry:
“This tale is the worst of disgraces!”
Just why did he voice his objections?
He lacked the correct recollections
for finding this bar
that wasn’t too far.
Turns out he just wanted directions!*
*He was looking for Frog and Fiddler, a pub/bar in
Northampton, England (now closed permanently).
January 19, 2023
written for The Fiddler and the Frog Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Craig Cornish
Categories:
northampton, confusion, places,
Form: Limerick
Northampton peasant John Clare
penned verse sans a care
His teenage love Miss Mary Joyce
ever his poetic first choice
Categories:
northampton, people, poetry,
Form: Clerihew
This Regency Dandy flying across the river,
Jumping Jack Flash of kingfisher blue that
I was lucky t see, this dainty dandy of English rivers and streams.
A compact colourful apparition my sore eyes waited some
Sixty years to see, others boast much earlier visitations of these
Bluish-green, orange and red feathers attached to a Cyrano De Bergerac
rapier beak,
Outshining the honking harrying flotillas of Canada geese not capable of
Competing with this fisher of minnows, as we strolled across the Georgian
Bridge at Blatherwycke straddling the nonchalant flowing Nene of this
shire of shires,
Now of only one squire, but still many fine spires in this shire of Northampton.
Categories:
northampton, bird,
Form: Free verse