...of pets an poetry

There are days when I feel that the more I write the blog the more difficult it is to find something to write about. And yes this it is one of those days.  So here’s a writing exercise I did a while ago

Of Pets and Poetry

All things bright and Beautiful,

All creatures great and small.

All things wise and wonderful,

The lord God made them all.

 I think mice are rather nice,

 Their tales are long,

Their faces small,

They haven’t any chins at all,

At least that’s how I think it goes. My sister  had some white mice once. They lived in a little wooden cage with a wire mesh front. I remember the musty dusty sawdust smell of them and how the warm soft pink bare-skinned blind babies snuggled in my hand. 

Three blind mice,

Three blind mice

See how they run.

One of them did, Mum found it later squashed under the cage.

But I still think mice are rather nice.

Two little dickey birds sat upon a wall,

One named Peter,

One named Paul.

Who’s a pretty boy then, who’s a pretty boy?

Noddy is. He’s Granddads green and yellow budgie. He can wolf whistle too. Noddy loves sugar and if you press a damp finger into the white grains he’ll sit on your hand and gently nibble at the sweetness with his  sharp curved beak. Oh no there’s little budgie droppings in the sugar, “Who left the cover off the bowl?” 

How much is that doggie in the window?

The one with the waggily tail.

How much is that doggie in the window?

 I do hope that doggie’s for sale. 

Rex is a foxie; he’s my fiend. We drove all the way out to the Blue Cross Kennels in Wellington, and chose him, out of all the other dogs that needed homes. He sleeps in the big kennel that Dad built, under the apple trees. At first he was tied up with a red leather leash, but he chewed through that. Dad mended it with a metal plate and a couple of rivets. He’s clever my Dad is. After that Rex was tied up with a shiny silver chain. 

Once I took him to school for pet day. The best thing about that was that I had to take him home after lunch and didn’t have to go back for the rest of the afternoon. Rex loved to chase the ball, but he never wanted to bring it back, he’d just chew and chew slobber all over it, and then it wasn’t much good for anything. When we moved to Petone, Mum said we couldn’t have a dog in the shop. She found a nice lady to take care of him. When the lady came to take him away I cried, the lady said we could visit whenever we wanted too. But somehow Mum never found the time to take us. 

Oh my name is Dinky Pinky,

And my tail is short and Kinky

I’m a little elephant

As you can see.

Well it went something like that. The song was from one of my favorite stories on the radio request session on Sunday mornings. My Dinky’s not an elephant; he’s a shiny black cat. It’s OK to have a cat in the shop. Good to keep the mice away Dad says. Once Dinky made a mess at the front of the shop, and at lunchtime, the busiest part of the day. He wasn’t very popular with Mum and Dad after that. My sister had a black cat too. When we moved to Melling her cat kept walking back to the shop. He had to cross the railway lines and the main road as well. He walked back so many times that the new people in the shop asked her if they could keep him. She said yes, and they changed his name to Harvey.

This little pig went to market.

This little pig stayed home.

This little pig had roast beef.

And this little pig’s… not a pig at all! He’s a guinea pig. All shiny black and white and ginger. I bought him from a friend at school for two and six, and called him Elvis. He’s got a quivery shivery nose and long white whiskers. When he’s hungry he sounds just like a squeaky toy. Out the back of the shop there used to be a bakery. That’s where Elvis lives. I keep his cage on the bench near the window so he can see outside. The front door of the shop is on Jackson Street and the back door is on Peel street, so there isn’t any grass in our backyard. Our neighbour in Peel Street is very nice lady. She lets me bring Elvis over to play on their lawn whenever I want.  He looks like he’s smiling when I put him down on the grass to play.

All things bright and Beautiful,

All creatures great and small.

All things wise and wonderful,

The lord God made them all.