I'm cheating a bit

[Zondrae]

I' m cheating a bit.
I had this one on file. I wrote the Limerick first then expanded it into a poem. (with a slightly different rhyming pattern.)

Limerick.
There once was a bloke from Gilgandra
who liked to sit on his veranda.
Kept a lizard and snake
when he went to the lake
he brought back a new salamander.


Gilgandra Man
© Zondrae King (Corrimal) 02/07

This bloke from out Gilgandra way
was keen on reptiles. (so they say)
He kept a lizard in a tank.
A pet snake in a basement, dank
and often on a Sunday drank
to pass the afternoon away.

His wife had learned to tolerate
his habit of returning late
from fishing trips out to the lake.
He used to go with his mate Jake.
Some sandwiches and beer they’d take
with grasshoppers and worms for bait.

One famous trip our, Gilly bloke,
caught tortoises, and for a joke,
looked for a salamander too,
around this lake he’d seen a few,
to take home for his reptile zoo.
Then had a beer and rolled a smoke.

Now every time he goes away
even if it’s just one day,
his wife tells him of her agenda.
No more creatures for the veranda!
They were the talk of all Gilgandra.
She was the boss. (or so they say)

[Robyn]

Well done Zondrae... fancy finding a rhyme for Gilgandra!

[Maureen K Clifford]

Very well done Zondrae that is clever -love it

Hey Robyn I rhymed Yackandandah - d0n't that count

Cheers

Maureen

[Neville Briggs]

Well done Zondrae. I like the idea of doing a small verse like a limerick then transforming it into something larger. Great idea ( it's not cheating it's innovation Zondrae )

In fact I wondered how it would look if you kept the limerick and made it the first stanza.

[Rimeriter]

Very clever, fair lady.

I enjoyed it.
Jim.

[Zondrae]

... and, in case anyone might be interested..

My tadpoles have grown up and seem to have hopped off. I know there were at least eight there before I went to Cobargo and yesterday, I removed the plant and fished round with the little shrimp net. I only was able to find two, one with the start of legs and one that was almost all frog but still had a little bit of tail. I quickly returned them to the water and put the plant back. Also before, there was a little nose popping up here and there about every 8 to 10 seconds to catch a gulp of air. Now there is no sign of life. I have stood a distance away and watched for about 15 minutes and not a sign of a froggy nose. So now I wait in hope that they will come back and leave me some eggs to start the next generation. I wouldn't like to think that big bully Striped Marsh Frog had come and eaten them all.

[Robyn]

Hey Robyn I rhymed Yackandandah - d0n't that count

Fan-bloody-tastic!!!
And don't you love the way the word rolls off the tongue!
Robyn

[Bob Pacey]

Don't ya just love the way we can start off on a homework topic wander to yackandandah and Gilgandra and end up in a frog pond.

Now we lost those interesting little threads when the site went open but it is great to see them wander back again.



Most likley a kingfishers breakfast Zondrae ???


Bob

[Wendy Seddon]

There once was a tadpole octet
who decided the pond was too wet,
Yakandandah and Gil
better fitted the bill
leaving Zondrae alone with her net!

[Zondrae]

Thanks Owly,

Although I'm not alone. The Striped Marsh Frog (call - like a leak in the roof- I call him the clomp clomp frog) has taken up residence in the yard. With all the rain he only spent two days in the pond. The other day Wayne disturbed him in the long grass on the shady side of the yard, the other side from the pond. He moved quite smartly out of the way of the whipper snipper. We have several garden beds with large leafy plants for him to use as a corridor to the storm water drains. There seem to be many of the larger varieties of frog living in the drains. mm I wonder why I haven't written more frog poems?