Transcript

Let's have some fun 

with things that rhyme

welcome Kids 

it's poetry time!

Hip Hip Hurray!

Welcome everyone to Kids Poetry Club with me, Little Dazzy Donuts, and a big THANKS to Sam from Wales, who is the star of today’s episode and he read out our introduction poem for us.

I hope you’re feeling ready for some rhymes and fun today because we're going to spend the next 15 minutes listening to three poems on this week's chosen topic. We’ll also hear from some special guests along the way. So, while I play our intro music, get wriggling around to find a comfortable spot ... I’m so excited! It's time for this week's Kids’ Poetry Club!

MUSIC

I’m on my way to the Club for our episode. Queenie and Chicken offered to set everything set up ready, which was really sweet of them – but, of course, I never really know what to expect whenever Queenie and Chicken get together.

So, why don’t we take advantage of my walk to do our club registration. This is where you get to shout out your name and get a club point for being here. So, on the count of three, shout out your name so that I can hear you through your phone, computer, or radio.

Let the drum roll begin. Here goes …. One. Two. Three! ….. Excellent!

Well, our timing couldn’t have been better. I just arrived at the Club, so let’s head in and see what Queenie and Chicken are up to.

SOUND – door.

Queenie: Hi Little Dazzy Donuts!

Hi Queenie. Hi Chicken. How’s everything going here at the Club? Is everything ready for the episode?

SOUND – Chicken.

Queenie – Little Dazzy Donuts … Chicken says that it’s so great to tuna you. (Snicker).

I’m sorry. Chicken said what.

Queenie – She said, “It’s so great to tuna you.”

Well, that’s unusual. Are you sure that you heard her correctly?

Queenie – Oh yes. I’m very sure. You tuna, we’re playing a little game. (Snicker).

You tuna?

Queenie – Don’t you tuna it yet?

Ah – I’m with you now. It’s great to tuna you means it’s great to see you. So, every time you would normally say the word “see”, you replace it with the word “tuna” instead.

Queenie – Tuna, Chicken … I told you Little Dazzy Donuts was a bright cookie. Ummm … that doesn’t sound right. Perhaps he’s a sharp cookie. No, that still doesn’t sound right. Is he a smart tough cookie? Well, I guess that he’s some kind of cookie, that’s for sure. My gosh, I’m getting all of worms mixed up today!

 SOUND – Chicken.

Well, Queenie …. You’re definitely having a lot of fun with words today. Perhaps we should make that our topic for the episode and have more word fun together?

Queenie – Oooooohhhh …. I love that idea!!!! Do you have any poems about words, Little Dazzy Donuts?

Of course I do, Queenie. Why don’t we read one now, and then we’ll have more word fun. This first poem is called “Between My Ears”, and it’s about what happens to words when they go in through your ears and into your head. But how do you think this first poem will arrive? How do you think the Poetry Postal Service will deliver out first poem? Listen carefully …. Here it comes ….

SOUND

It arrived by donkey. What an interesting way for a poem to travel. Okay, now it’s here, let’s listen to “Between My Ears”.

Whatever you told me,
it went in one ear
and it shot out the other
so I have no idea
whether it was something important
I really should know
like where are the keys
or where I should go.
Now this has happened,
the lesson is clear,
that next time you talk
I should block up one ear,
so whatever you’re saying
stays in my head,
and I retain every word
that you’ve ever said!

Queenie: Oooohhhh, I like that poem, Little Dazzy Donuts. I’ve never thought about what happens to all of those words once they go through one of my ears. If they really can escape straight out of my other ear, then that totally explains why I forget what I’m told. Perhaps, if I used a finger to block up an ear, I’d remember more of the things.

So, Queenie … how are you and Chicken getting on with your word fun?

Queenie: Well, we’re still playing our banana.

You are?

Queenie: oh yes – it’s the best banana we’ve played all day. (snicker).

I tuna – you’ve replaced the word “game” for the word “banana”. By the way, how did you start this banana in the first place?

Queenie – well, Chicken and I were doing a crossword in that magazine over there.  When we’d finished, we checked our answers against those in the back of the magazine, and we found that we’d accidentally got an answer wrong. We’d put the word tuna as our answer to 1 across … and it wasn’t tuna at all. We laughed so hard, and then we thought that we’d just use the word tuna as a replacement for other words.

Let me see. Oh yes … 1 across. The clue was “An African animal that mostly eats plants and lives some of the time in water. 12 letters”.

Queenie – yeah – so you can see how we thought the answer might be tuna.

Actually, Queenie – I can’t. The answer to the clue is actually Hippopotamus, and it has 12 letters. How did you ever think the answer could be Tuna? That only has 4 letters.

Queenie – Oh, Little Dazzy Donuts. Clearly, you don’t understand how Chicken and I do crosswords!!

You’re right – I don’t. Oh well, let’s play another fun word game together. How about we play a game of Limerick?

Queenie – oh, yes please! How do we play it?

Well, I’ll give you the first two lines of a Limerick poem, and you have to finish off the poem by adding three more lines.

Queenie – that sounds great fun! Chicken and I can work together as a team. So, can you give me an example of a Limerick?

Of course, Queenie. A Limerick poem is usually funny, has five lines, and the first, second and last lines all rhyme with each other … and the third and fourth lines both rhyme too. Here’s an example:

When Queenie and Chicken played a game

Words were changed and just not the same.

A simple word like see

Sounded like tuna to me.

Come tuna the fun, they proclaimed.

Queenie – well, I think I’m going to like playing Limericks. So why don’t you give us two lines to think about while you read a second poem?

Okay then – here goes …. Why don’t you write a Limerick that starts …

There once was a young poet

Who rhymed but just didn’t know it

SOUND - Chicken

Queenie – Chicken says that we accept the challenge. Now, while we work on it together, could you read out this poem that I have in my pocket?

Of course, Queenie. Oh, I like this one. It’s called “I Forgot”, and it’s all about what’s it’s like to have something to say, and then to completely forget that as soon as you start speaking. I’m sure that’s something that we’ve all experienced at some point. Let’s listen to our second poem, “I Forgot”.

I really wanted us to talk

as I had something important to say,

but between me starting and this time now

I’ve completely lost my way.

I remember that I had this fact

sat on the tip of my tongue,

but once I opened my mouth, it must have dropped out

so you can see why something seems wrong.

I’m umming and I’m arghing

just to fill the time

while I hope the fact I’ve sadly lost

comes back into my mind.

I can feel my brain is straining.

My throat is going dry.

My eyes are bulged. I’m turning red.

I think I’m going to cry.

Very soon, I’ll have to stop.

I have nothing to convey,

and neither of us will ever know

what I came over here to say!

Reading that again makes me feel so sorry for the poor person in the poem. To be trying so hard to remember what it was that they wanted to say, and then finally having to admit that it has been lost forever.

Okay, let’s check in with Queenie and Chicken to find out how they’re doing with the limerick poem. So, Queenie, how’s it going writing the third, fourth and fifth lines of the Limerick?

Queenie: I think we’ve done so well here!!!!! Chicken thought of the third and fourth lines, and then I came up with the fifth. Here, let me read it to you …

There once was a young poet

Who rhymed but Just didn’t know it

Until she typed an anecdote

and each word that she wrote

Rhymed with one above and below it!

Well done to both of you! That’s really funny!

Queenie: It is – although I think it lost something when I translated it from the original Chicken language version. You know, not every Chicken word has a direct equivalent in English.

I didn’t know that Queenie. I don’t actually speak Chicken.

Queenie: Well, in Chicken language, it matters more how you say something rather than what you say. So, the same Chicken word can mean twenty English words, and you know which one by the way that word is said – so a sound means something different if it’s said in an angry tone, or a worried one, or a happy one, and so on and on and on and on and on and on and on … oh, and one more on.  So Little Dazzy Donuts, seeing as you don’t speak Chicken, do you just speak English?

Well, Queenie, at different times in my life, I have taken classes to learn French and German. However, I really only know a little of both languages.

Queenie: I wonder if it’s possible to take classes in Chicken language. You should check that out – if you can, then you should do it. Speaking Chicken opens your eyes up to a whole new world.

  I like that idea, Queenie. I’ll definitely look out for evening classes in the Chicken language. If I ever see one, I’ll definitely sign up. Now, all of this talk about languages fits perfectly with our third poem today, which is called “Your Language”. The poem is all about speaking to someone who speaks a completely different language to you! But how do you think this third poem will arrive? Listen carefully …. Here it comes ….

SOUND

It came by motorbike. Postie Dale is certainly using a wide range of delivery methods these days. Well, now it’s here, let’s listen to the poem, “Your Language”.

Everything you said to me
was about as clear as mud.
Not a single word that you used
was one I understood.
Maybe you were speaking French,
the language used in France,
and so if you spoke to someone French,
perhaps they’d stand a chance.
Or were you speaking Russian,
German, Welsh or Dutch?,
and someone from those countries
would understand so much
of what you tried to tell me
for an hour or two
and until they’re here,

I’ll nod just like
I speak the same language as you!

Queenie: Ha! That’s so funny, Little Dazzy Donuts. That sounds just like what it would happen if Chicken spoke to you for an hour or two! The whole idea had Chicken giggling throughout the poem.

Well, Queenie, that sadly was our final poem of the episode.

SOUND

However, we do have some happy news, which is that we’ll have a bonus episode this coming Thursday where we’ll hear more submissions from the Spring competition that just closed, all read out by the poets who wrote them. Then, next Monday’s episode announces all of the winners.

Queenie: I’m so excited about both of those episodes. Talking of next week’s episode announcing the winners, do you think I could help you to design and run it? I have some wonderful ideas for how to organize an awards ceremony.

Of course, Queenie. I’m sure you’ll bring a sense of fun and excitement to the whole occasion. What I call that certain “Queenie flair”.

Queenie: YIPPEE!!!!! I can’t wait! Okay, I’m off now to book the orchestra for the awards ceremony. ‘bye, Little Dazzy Donuts. See you soon. Toodle pip.

‘bye Queenie.

Wait … did she just say orchestra? Did she just say that she’s booking an orchestra for next week’s episode where we announce the winners of the Spring competition? Oh gosh … I better find some more chairs for the Club between now and next week. It was a struggle to fit in the marching band a few weeks’ ago – I suspect that an orchestra will be even more challenging.

Well, before I do that, let me first remind you that there are lots of ways to join in with the Club. If you go to kidspoetryclub.com, you’ll see a wonderful drawing by our Club illustrator, Dot Cherch. You can also see the PodSnack video for the episode and download the episode’s PodPack of activities. They’re all free. Plus there’s information on how to send your poems and drawings into the club. There’s also information on how you can be the STAR of the episode who reads out our introduction poem. You’ll find everything you need at kidspoetryclub.com.

It has been so lovely to spend time with you! Thank you for joining me, Queenie, and Chicken. I hope you enjoyed yourself, and hope you’ll return on Thursday to listen to the bonus episode, and then next week for the winners’ announcement. It will be so great to see you there!

As always, let's finish with our short goodbye poem:

We've had some fun 

with things that rhymed

goodbye Kids 

until next time!

This is Little Dazzy Donuts saying .... keep rhyming!!!