Waddle waddle
toil and twaddle
the cat’s in its cradle
the boy’s in the bubble
The king’s in the counting house
counting out his money
the red back’s on the toilet seat
in the outdoor dunny
Old Mother Hubbard’s
in lockdown at home
the poor little dog
still hasn’t a bone
but the cow’s over the moon
the sun’s in the stubble
and Basho’s feisty frog
plops in the puddle
John Malone 
What a fun poem! I love all the references.. especially to Basho because that’s a favourite Haiku of mine. And you have snuck in lockdown and outdoor dunnies too! Quite a mix! Very light with the rhythm and rhyme working beautifully!
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thanks Worms: I was proud of this: checked the Basho frog reference: there are 30 English translations of this, all wordier than Basho’s Japanese: the best was Ginsberg’s:
‘The old pond
A frog jumped in
Kerplunk !’
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Oh no! 😂😂. That’s not the one I remember. Actually that sounds like a silly maths song you sing while clapping and clicking. It certainly doesn’t sound like a classical Japanese Haiku. But it’s true translation adds complexity. The Chinese have proverbs of only a few characters but the translations are more like two sentences. They’re still beautiful though. I think Ginsberg has removed the aesthetic appeal a bit. Sorry to disagree with you. 🙂
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you put your case very well; I love the Ginsberg haiku as a stand alone poem but agree it lacks the aesthetic nuance of Basho; how I wish I studied Japanese at Uni instead of Latin — but then again I never would have read Catullus or Ovid in the originals
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Love! This is so fun!
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thank you: I’ve decided that I’m going to give free rein to my ludic spirit the next few weeks; I know I will lose readers but I’m going to have fun 🙂 expect anything 🙂
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You can’t worry about losing readers otherwise you’ll attempt nothing new. Besides, I have a feeling most of them wander back into the fold, like lost sheep, after a while.
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thanks; that’s a very good argument 🙂
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Thank you for a good morning laugh. Wonderful play with words and references.
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thank you, Ulle: glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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What a delicious dollop of nonsense!😂
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well, that’s one interpretation, Hobbo 🙂
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👍
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Wonderful. What a fun read. And to end it with a reference to Basho, left a big smile on my face.
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appreciate that, Bob; had to end it with Basho to give the poem a little heft 🙂
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Is this a rap of rhymes? Need the boom box in the background.
Well written! 🙂
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haha; I could feel the melody rippling underneath the rhymes 🙂 nicely put 🙂
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Your other readers are more erudite than I. I had no idea who Basho was, other than it sounded Japanese. Although Japan is the homeland of the haiku, Basho could have been anyone from a real world samurai to a mythological creature. *puzzled look* Who knows?
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Lol…
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a rather comical poem. Wonderful!!! 😊😊😊
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