there wasn't a thing that didn't respond (Friday's Sunday's Poem/Hot Actress 51)

Daddy Fell into the Pond.
by Alfred Noyes


Everyone grumbled. The sky was grey.

We had nothing to do and nothing to say.

We were nearing the end of a dismal day,

And there seemed to be nothing beyond,

THEN

Daddy fell into the pond!



And everyone's face grew merry and bright,

And Timothy danced for sheer delight.

"Give me the camera, quick, oh quick!

He's crawling out of the duckweed."

Click!



Then the gardener suddenly slapped his knee,

And doubled up, shaking silently,

And the ducks all quacked as if they were daft

And is sounded as if the old drake laughed.



O, there wasn't a thing that didn't respond

WHEN

Daddy fell into the pond!

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About the Poem: I liked the lack of pretension in the subject matter, I liked the fact that it followed a regular rhythm, I liked that it rhymed. If you're going to read poetry, you want it to be poetry, to show what language can do when it's challenged. Here, words form an almost bubbly, laughy kind of beat. Plus, it rhymed. All you highbrow poets writing free verse about Romania hoping to get published in The New Yorker... take some time today to write a fun, rhyming poem.

About the Actress: I'm not sure she is an actress, but I use that term loosely anyway. Belinda Carlisle was on the Joy Behar show last night, prompting me to say she looked kind of old, and Sweetie to say she looked good, and me to agree that she looked good but that I was surprised that she looked ... older, and Sweetie to comment that she thought Belinda Carlisle had Botox, although I don't know how she knows or suspects that. Something about the forehead. Anyway, Belinda Carlisle looks good and is maybe around 50 (?) so she's getting her due here.