For Day 27 NaPoWriMo asks us to  write a nursery rhyme or clapping rhyme. Most nursery and clapping rhymes have strong rhythms, use rhyme and repetition extensively, and aren’t overly concerned with making sense. If you’re having trouble getting started, you might start with an existing nursery or clapping rhyme and play with its form, substituting words. Hopefully, this will make for a fun and easy way to end your work-week!

Here’s a skipping rhyme and two very bad nursery rhymes:

Slamming with Dragons Skipping Rhyme

I had a little dragon
His name was Silly Sam
I put him in a contest to see if he could slam
He took all the prizes, he ate the youngest judge
He got so full he couldn’t move even with a nudge
Out flew the timekeeper
Out flew the crowd
Out flew the poets from Poetry Out Loud
In crawled the timekeeper
In crawled the crowd
In crawled the poets from Poetry Out Loud

***

Figgerty, foggerty, filk
The cow gives up her milk
The pail is full
The cow stands still
Figgerty foggerty filk

***

Flim flugel flugel, the boy and his bugle
The poet has lost all her rhyme
Her syllable plan didn’t quite scan
And her iams just couldn’t keep time

Carol A. Stephen, April 27, 2012

Carol A. Stephen