Monday, November 25, 2013

A Poem About Immigration

I wrote you a poem. I might doodle a picture or two to go with it, in which case I'll come back and update this, but for now, have a read of something silly. (It's best read aloud, preferably while acting it out. Oh, and it's based on a true story...)

THE THING BILLY SAW IN THE PARK by Joe Craig

Billy saw a thing in the park.
At first he wasn’t sure cos it was just getting dark
But he chased it a bit, watched it run, walk, sit
Then suddenly, with utter glee, it took a step and bent its knee and…

BOUNCE BOUNCE DOINNNGG

That was the thing
that the thing
really seemed to be enjoying.

BOUNCE BOUNCE DOINNNGG

“Oh my, that’s a wallaby.” said Billy.
“A wallaby! It has to be.
I know my mum’ll wanna see a wallaby
Here in the city where a wallaby should never be.
Mum, come with me, coz I think I found a wallaby!”

“Are you sure?” said Mum. “Now, now, come, come,
You don’t get a park in the city fully of wallabies.
Let’s not be silly, Billy. It can’t be a wallaby.”

So Billy dragged his mum to the spot
where the thing had been jumping about such a lot.
It was there, in the trees, with pointy ears and bendy knees,
And this really cool move it was deploying, going:

BOUNCE BOUNCE DOINNNGG

“A wallaby!” cried mum. “I never would’ve thought it, but it’s true,
Right here in the park in the city,
There’s a wallaby just roaming free.
Believe you me, it’s the strangest thing we’ll ever see but:
A wallaby’s a wallaby.”

Mum ran to tell all the neighbours and the neighbours told the press,
who made ever such a mess
and the press told the cops and the cops told the Mayor,
who rushed straight there.
“I WANNA SEE THE WALLABY!”
she yelled out loud as she dived through the crowd.

The people gathered round to see the thing Billy found.
But they didn’t get too near
cos they couldn’t see it clear
and they trembled in fear.

The neighbours all jeered as they peered through the fog
“It’s got to be a dog.
You just don’t get a park in the city full of wallabies.”

A man from the press with his glasses on wonkey
Said, “It’s nothing like a dog, it’s a very small donkey.”

A very big cop shouted, “Everybody STOP.
I should check this creature
isn’t gonna try and eat ya.”
So he marched right up to it while the others watched him do it,
Then he ran away scared cos he thought it was a bear.

Then poor Billy
shouted, “Please!
Don’t be silly.
Look at those knees.
Look at its pouch
Look at how it’s crouched.”
Then he showed them how it did what a wallaby can do
How it bounced, how it doinged.
Billy bounced and doinged too
Like a crazy, bouncy, doingy boy because
That’s the only way he knew how to show them what it was.

“This is not a dog or a donkey or a bear
Or a fish or a pig or a hat or a honey bee.
I know just what it is, what it was and what it’s gonna be.
It’s strange to find it here, but maybe here’s where the wallabies’ll wanna be
When they all see the way we treat a wallaby
And that’s what it is, because:
A wallaby’s a wallaby.”

The neighbours all gasped.
“Nobody asked for a park full of wallabies,
Here in the city. Oh, what a silly wallaby,
Stuck in the city where he really doesn’t wanna be.”

A man from the press looked quite distressed.
“I don’t want a park in the city full of wallabies.
BOUNCE BOUNCE DOINNNGG could be really quite annoying.”

The cops had no clue what to do about the hullabaloo,
“It might have claws so according to the law
We should put it in the zoo.”

“Wait,” said the Mayor.
“I have something to declare.

It is, after all, my decision that counts

And I’ve got a most important bit of news to announce…

This park is now a special park for wallabies to


DOINNNGG DOINNNGG BOUNCE!”

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