It is always a pleasure to visit with Cousin Blanche. Recently I was sitting with her on her pizer (she actually said "piazza"), when she remembered a poem from her childhood. I can't remember what prompted the memory, but below is the short poem that was popular on Ocracoke eighty years ago:
Mama, Mama, may I go swimming?
Yes, my darling daughter.
Hang your clothes on the brier bush,
But don't go near the water!
Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is Lou Ann's story of the Night Blooming Cereus Cactus. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news072111.htm.
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IMHO, that rhyme, that none sense rhyme no doubt, would have been a chant-- said out loud, when Blanche and her BFF's were playing jump rope. Blanche probably played jump rope, hop scotch, box ball, catch, stick ball, sold lemonade at a lemonade stand, built tree houses, collected shells, all these activities involved hand and eye coordination, aerobic type exercise and breathing plenty of fresh air and today-- we are surprised that Blanche is in her 90s raking leaves and bagging dozens ??????
ReplyDeleteThe fun part is that some of us do those things as well!! I have been trying to figure out the deeper meaning of the poem all week, but must confess, just can't get it. Maybe it just is.
ReplyDeleteA girl can flirt, a girl can dance, a girl can play croquet.
ReplyDeleteBut she can't light a match on the seat of her pants because she's not built that way.
From the talking walls of the Haile Historic Homestead Kanappaha circa 1910ish ---- was not word play a past time in the early 20th century ===== before radio before television ---- when time was spent on the pizer to build community
Less complicated times brought such simple joys.....thanks to Blanche for that charming childhood memory.
ReplyDeleteAnon 1:23...I can do all the things you mention in your poem, and you are right, I can't light a match on the seat of my pants either, but there are times when I can make people move and move fast!!! HA!