Why Frogs?
Why
Frogs?
By
Teak Kilmer
August
3rd 2002
Frogs don’t fly, don’t sing,
don’t do much of anything ...
except to croak and peep
and when scared, they leap
sit on fronds on lilly ponds
but frogs don’t fly, don’t sing
don’t do much of anything ...
save grow their webby toes sidelong
snare yucky bugs with their tongue-tongs
that are longer than most drinking songs
and other frogs of whom they’re fond
to they’ll snuggle-up and bond ...
but frogs don’t fly, don’t sing
don’t do much of anything...
except do frog kicks to exercise
deep in water, then they rise
in purple, green and red
some are even blonde it’s said
but frogs don’t fly, don’t sing
don’t do much of anything ...
yet pose on covers of greeting cards
for which on my visa I may charge
and hereon write poems like this
and wish you oodles of birthday bliss
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Mabel
Grandpa Teak
I wrote this on the
inside of a greeting card, the cover of which had a multicolored tropical tree
frog.
Very clever, fun and based on accurate observation! thanks!!
ReplyDeleteI remember reading this in your Teak-the-Poet-Tree cursive, fresh off the presses the day that you wrote it (or I'm confusing this one with the poem you wrote while driving through ice and snow to meet us at the Hudson House in Hudson, WI) . Either way, this is an amazing burst of creative joy anticipating the moment of seeing your beautiful baby granddaughter. Frogs are a good subject. Shouldn't there be many more poems about frogs? There should. The word is fun to say, the creatures they name are amusing and strange and endearing and occasionally poisonous! Your poem also demonstrates, that despite the refrain, they do many things and live in our imaginations as multidimensional characters. Why frogs? Your poem answers that urgent social question with a resounding "that's why."
ReplyDeleteI relate! “Don’t do much of anything..” but just so, do so much!
ReplyDeleteI love this & I suspect Kermit would feel the same ~ Mable is a very lucky girl!
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