Sunday, March 13, 2011

Dah!

CATERPILLAR UPRISING

asks us to start with the words in blue and to be brief.

DAH?

He had never been accused of intelligence,
But then, he was only a kid;
When he tipped up the bowl of spaghetti
They laughed at the cute things he did.
But, in time, he held very high office,
The highest there was in the land,
And people grew wide-eyed and nervous................
What a lot he could not understand!
*
(Not directed in any particular direction!)

------------------------------------------------------


IMMIGRANNIT! POMMIGRANNIT!

'Immigrannit! Pommigrannit!' little children used to cry
When a child who'd come from England happened to be passing by!
Those who'd traveled to Australia from their rainy land of birth
Were treated with extreme derision, mockery and cruel mirth.
Quite unused to brilliant sunshine, they would burn and go bright red.
'You look like a pomegranate!' all the taunting locals said.
And it's true, their rosy colour with it's painful fiery glow
Resembled pomegranates in their glory, putting on a fruitful show.
'Immigrannit! Pommigrannit!' echoed round the old school yard
And, no doubt, the little children found the taunting very hard.
Time went by and 'Pom!' was shouted and that word is used today.
I'm a 'Pom' and I accept that, feeling cherished, in a way.
Greeks, Italians, other peoples ousted 'Poms' as novelties,
Now we're old-hat and the 'strangers' are the folk who're Lebanese!
Integration happens slowly but it happens by and by.
A word now spoken with affection started as a taunting cry.
*

12 comments:

Deborah said...

Wonderful, both of them ... link your Saturday Centus DAH? to Jenny Matlock below, I know everyone would love to read yours!


http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/search/label/Saturday%20Centus

jabblog said...

I like your Saturday Centus - that description could be applied to quite a few;-)
I didn't know Pom came from pomegranate. How funny.

Kat said...

This was a great use of the prompt. Unfortunately, this could apply to a number of people who hold office! Kat

Maria said...

Now I know what pom means! Thanks. I thought you Saturday Centus was great too. Well done!

cj Schlottman said...

Your Centus is a tight and compact little poem. I can think of several people to whom it might refer!


Namaste..........cj

Jo said...

loved them both! The Pom poem was such an interesting read!

Judie said...

Both poems were truly very good, and both we can relate to in our world today. You are so very clever with your words!

Nonna said...

Great job on both ! Your creative juices are sure in overdrive...I'm lucky to come up with one centus per week !

e said...

Both of these were so well written:) I'm glad I have found your blog. I am from England and my Mum was also born in 1931 and evacuated in WW2. There were 8 of them and they were, of course split up, but my Mum managed to stay with three of her younger siters. The stories she used to tell me about their experiences still amaze me to this day. Very nice to meet you.

gautami tripathy said...

Both so wonderful!

coloured perspective

Susan Anderson said...

Really enjoyed BOTH of these.

=)

Jenny said...

These were both so great. I loved the top one...the way you integrated that prompt into your poem was absolute genius.

You are incredibly talented Miss Brenda Bryant!

Thank you for sharing your words with us.