Transcript

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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. I’m on my way to the garden behind the Club. I received a lovely hand-written invitation from Queenie to come enjoy the pumpkin patch that she’s arranging with Chicken and Shasta, and all of the fun that goes with that. Oh, I do love visiting a pumpkin patch each October. I buy a couple of pumpkins, and then carve them to put faces and shapes on them, before putting them outside with candles in them. Given my love of pumpkins, I’m glad that Queenie and Chicken grew them this year, and so I can’t wait to see what they’ve organized for the pumpkin patch. Well, I just arrived at the Club, and so let’s walk around the back to the garden and see how things are going.

SOUND (gate)

Hi Queenie!

Queenie: Oh, hi Little Dazzy Donuts! Happy Fall!!!! And welcome to our special event here at the garden. You’re our first visitor.

Well, I feel honored. Thank you so much for inviting me. I’ve been looking forward to this ever since I received your lovely invitation.

Queenie: Oh, its our pleasure. We’ve only invited a few people, and we’re spreading them out over a couple of hours. We have so much planned, and you’re guaranteed not to get bored, that’s for sure. Between me, Chicken, and Shasta, we’re bringing you all of the fun of a traditional pumpkin patch, right here at the Club!

So, where are all of the pumpkins?

Queenie: All of the pumpkins?

Yes … the pumpkins. I’m looking forward to carving one.

Queenie: Ummmm … what makes you think that we have pumpkins?

The invitation. It said to come join you and Chicken at your pumpkin patch.

Queenie: Ah – I see where the misunderstanding is coming from. I think you may have misread the invitation there, Little Dazzy Donuts. It didn’t say Pumpkin Patch …. It invited you to come join us at our Non-Pumpkin patch.

Oh, so what exactly is a non-pumpkin patch?

Queenie: It’s what we have here! Look! We’re bringing you all of the fun of a traditional pumpkin patch, but with none of the actual pumpkins. Unfortunately, this year, we just didn’t grow enough to have a pumpkin patch. But we still loved the thought of having all of the fun. So, we’ve designed some activities for all of our visitors here at what we’re calling our non-pumpkin patch.

Well, I definitely appreciate all of the thought and hard work that’s gone into planning your event, that’s for sure … and I’m certainly open to trying a non-pumpkin patch for a change.

Queenie: Excellent. Well, you’re going to love the first activity we have planned. Up first, we have carving. As you know, pumpkin carving is a traditional favorite this time of year.

But isn’t it tough to do without pumpkins?

Queenie: Not at all …. We don’t have pumpkins, but we do have a lot of … and I mean A LOT of … is cabbages. So, the first activity is cabbage carving. My guess is that people carve pumpkins out of habit, and haven’t really considered other options. This eye-opening activity will demonstrate that pumpkins are just one option for carving each Fall. I predict that once you go cabbage, you don’t go back.

Well, this is interesting. Is it even possible to carve cabbages?

Queenie: That’s a good question … and, strangely enough, it’s the same question that Chicken asked me when I told her about the idea. So, in anticipation of your question and likely concerns, I have carved a couple of cabbages here as examples. Look!

Oh yes … now what are they?

Queenie: Well, this first one is where I’ve taken a large cabbage and I’ve carved it to make a smaller cabbage. Then, this second one is where I’ve taken a cabbage and carved it to make it look like a lettuce. I feel like I’ve really captured the likeness.

You certainly have. Okay, I think I’m ready to try this myself now. So, where do I carve my cabbage?

Queenie: Okay, first, you go pick a cabbage from the patch over there … any one …. We have a garden full of them … and you bring it back up to the table here, and then you take one of the spoons, and you begin carving.

One of the spoons?

Queenie: Oh yes – we all felt like it was safer if we carved with spoons. I’m not saying it’s easy to carve with a spoon – but think of it as adding to the overall challenge of the activity…… Now, while you carve your cabbage, do you happen to have any poems that you can play for us? It feels like poems go nicely with cabbage carving.

I do. It just so happens that I brought some recordings with me today. Let’s see. This first one comes from Ananya in the United States, and the poem is called Books. Here, I’ll play you the recording now …

Ananya:

Fiction books,

Like fantasy,

Take me to the castle.

Other books,

Like sci-fi,

Take me to outer space.

My atlas takes me all around,

But I don’t move an inch!

These books you see

Teleport me

To many different lands.

Today, we’re stuck in

Because of COVID,

But my books

are the key

to traveling

without moving an inch!

Oh books,

What would I do

Without all of you?

A big thank you to Ananya for your lovely poem. There’s something special about books, and the chance they offer to escape wherever we are, and dive into a completely different place or time, with different people. That’s nice at the best of times, but with the challenges we’ve all faced this year, for many of us, books have offered our best chance of traveling and escaping. Thank you, Ananya, for writing a poem that called that out, and for reading it so nicely.

Seeing as I’m still working on my cabbage carving, why don’t we listen to a second poem? This next one is from Jeyan in India, and is called My Best Friend. Here, I’ll play the poem for you now.

Jeyan:

My grandfather is kind,

He buys me whatever I find.

Advice he always gives me,

He once saved me from a bee.

He spends his precious time with me,

His favourite drink is tea.

His love for me is immense,

He is my only line of defence.

Thank you so much, Jeyan. Your grandfather sounds wonderful – and I love how you wrote a poem all about him. It can be so easy to take people for granted, and to lose sight of the lovely ways they brighten your life, and your poem does a great job of reminding us all that we should be grateful for our family members, and how each one is special. Thank you so much for your poem, and for recording it so nicely.

So, Queenie – I’ve finished my cabbage carving. What do you think of what I’ve created?

Queenie: Ummm … that’s a tough question. You’ve created something that looks a lot like green, leafy modern art. Oh, hang on, if I squint and look at it from a certain angle, I can make out a space ship. Is that what it is? A space ship?

Actually, it’s a dog.

Queenie: A dog? Are you sure? You know, I think you might be better to just tell people it’s modern art or a space ship. If you do that, people will definitely be impressed. So, are you ready for the second activity now?

I am. What’s up next?

Queenie: Oh, you’re going to love this! It’s a corn maze.

Oh gosh – I love corn mazes!

Queenie: Chicken made this one for us yesterday. She actually got lost inside of her own maze while she was making it, and so I think that’s a sign of a good maze. There I was, busy making my cabbage carving samples, and I suddenly thought that I hadn’t seen Chicken for a while … and so I went looking for her, and it turned out that she was lost inside of her own maze. Now, I should warn you that this corn maze has a slight twist.

It does?

Queenie: Yes – Chicken was thinking about chickens when she made it … and so we have the perfect maze for a chicken. But it may prove to be far from ideal for someone like you, Little Dazzy Donuts. Look.

Oh, I see what you mean – all of the corn is just a bit taller than a chicken. So, I can easily see right over the top of it. Oh well, it will still be a fun maze. I tell you what, while I do the maze, why don’t you listen to another poem? This next one from the Clarissa in England, and is called “A Simple Cat Am I”. Here, I’ll play the poem for you now …

Clarissa:

A simple cat am I,

Snuggling down, I sense the day go by.

Reclining on a soft, silk pillow;

Lounging in sun-dappled shade by the willow.

A thankful cat am I,

For the mice that creep, the birds that fly.

Animals that sacrifice their meat,

To make the juicy food I joyously eat.

A curious cat am I,

Long tail twitching like a flag on high.

Watching! Eyes of inquisitive green

Spy dragonflies dance with electric-blue sheen.

A grateful cat am I.

Loved from birth until the day I die.

Dawn ‘til dusk I feel heavenly bliss.

Other cats don’t experience life like this.

A big THANK YOU to Clarissa for your lovely poem. Yours is one of the few poems we’ve received that considers what gratitude feels like to someone else … and, in your case, you’ve chosen a cat, and not just any cat, you’ve chosen a simple, thankful, curious, grateful cat. Your cat sounds really special. Thank you so much for writing your poem, and for recording it so nicely.

Our next poem comes from Archita in India, and is called Enchanted By Birds. I’ll play the poem for you now.

Archita:

My day breaks with chirping of the birds,

I wonder that their mates heard.

They laze on my window asking for grains,

Looking at them reminds me of flying planes.

They erect their nest for numerous times in entity,

One grasps to be optimistic and struggler from birds' ability.

The nest made on my window bewitch me the most,

Seeing the birds incubating the eggs is the moment by which I am engrossed.

Glancing the struggles made by nestlings to fly,

It's not the wings but the efforts which kept it in sky high.

I feel pacified while gazing at the birds' flamboyant vivid feathers,

And self motivated to see them withstanding every execrable weather.

From every of the small creatures we need to learn much,

Battling with inevitable fate is one of such.

Thank you, Archita, for your wonderful poem. In the current competition on gratitude, we’ve received a lot of poems about what people are grateful for, and I think yours is the first to focus on birds, and I’m so glad that you wrote it. I like how you describe the lessons we can learn from watching birds and all of the challenges they face in building nests, laying eggs, battling the weather, and eventually with baby birds learning to fly. Thank you so much for describing all of that in your poem, and sending it in.

Okay then, Queenie. Now that we’ve completed the cabbage carving and the corn maze, what comes next?

Queenie: Next? Well, we have the fun of getting on the back of Chicken’s tractor and heading over to the Farm Stand ready to see Shasta’s demonstration of sheep trials. Okay, Chicken, start up the tractor…… Now, jump up on the back on these hay bales, Little Dazzy Donuts …. Perfect … and off we go.

I’m excited about the sheepdog trials that you’re taking us to, Queenie. There’s something fascinating about watching a shepherd whistling instructions to a sheepdog, and then watching that sheepdog guide a flock of sheep through a challenging course of gates and pens.

Queenie: Well, we have some of that, Little Dazzy Donuts … but not all. In your description, you mentioned a shepherd, a sheepdog, and sheep … and we have a third of that list.

The sheep?

Queenie: Exactly! So, this isn’t sheepdog trials … it’s sheep trials. There’s a difference, as you’re about to see…… Now that we’ve arrived at the farm stand, you can get a better sense of how this works. Look – all the way up there, we have Shasta and five sheep friends. When I tell them to start, they have to maneuver down the field, between two gates, round a post, and then into the circle over there where they’ll divide into two threes. One of the threes will go into the pen over to the right, and the other three sheep will head into the pen on the left.

Normally in sheepdog trials, a shepherd would tell a dog what to do, and that dog would move the sheep through the course, and so Shasta and her friends are doing this without any help.

Queenie: Exactly! What we have here is so much more difficult, and more impressive. Doing it without help increases the chances that the sheep will just meander off-course, or stop to graze for hours…. or, as happened in practice, they completely forget what they’re supposed to be doing and just sit down for a chat amongst themselves….. So, are you ready for the demonstration?

I am!

Queenie: Okay, let me tell Shasta that it’s okay to start. She has a walkie-talkie up there …. Hi Shasta, it’s Queenie, over.

SOUND (Sheep)

Queenie: It’s okay to start. Good luck. Just remember everything we did in the hours of practice we’ve done. Over … Okay, this could take a while Little Dazzy Donuts. Do you have another poem we can listen to?

I do, Queenie. This one comes from Asmita in India, and is called Grateful For Change. Here, I’ll play the poem for you now.

Asmita:

My life was a wild forest

The world not at its kindest.

Everything merged into shades of green.

And I was just one poor unloved teen.

I always saw but wasn't ever seen.

I had only a memory of you, dear.

Like a wisp of breath in the air.

Joy was a fallen leaf, hope a bird.

Time was a thief who kept his word.

And I did hear but wasn't ever heard.

Then I looked in the mirror one day,

I saw you; You told me to get away.

My life is a garden now, dear.

Change is a bubbly friend this year.

And the world seems worthy of care.

A big THANK You, Asmita, for your thought-provoking poem. I particularly like a couple of lines in your poem where you call out “I always saw but wasn't ever seen” and “And I did hear but wasn't ever heard”. I’m sure a lot of people listening can relate to both lines. Thank you so much for writing a poem that makes us pause and reflect … and for recording it so nicely.

Our final poem comes from Ayesha in the United Kingdom, and is called An Autumn Poem. I’ll play the poem for you now:

Ayesha:

Apples are falling Down,

Under the trees with a loud Sound,

The people are Preparing,

Umbrellas in their Bearing,

Many colours all Around,

Nature has been Found!

A big THANK You to Ayesha for your lovely poem. Of all of the poems we’ve received for the gratitude competition, we’ve received only a handful of acrostic poems … and yours really stands out from the crowd. For those who missed it, the lines of your poems started with the letters A, U, T, U, M and then N – spelling out Autumn. And I like how your poem called out some of the many reasons for being grateful for Autumn. Thank you for much for writing and recording your poem for us.

Well, Queenie – that was our final poem for the episode.

Queenie: What perfect timing on the poem, Little Dazzy Donuts! Shasta and the sheep just finished the course. What a wonderful error-free demonstration of sheep coordination. Well done, sheep. We’re all impressed.

We are! I think they now deserve to graze on the grass before their next demonstration. Well, sadly, that was our final poem, Queenie. I’ve really enjoyed your non-pumpkin patch – thank you so much for inviting me, and a big thanks to you, Chicken, and Shasta for all of the work that went into planning it.

Queenie: YIPPEE! You know, this has been so much fun that we may well do it again every year – it will give us all something to look forward to each October. Who knows, perhaps non-pumpkin patches will catch on! Chicken and I do tend to be trendsetters you know 

Yes you areI Well, before wrapping up, I should first thank everyone for joining us for the episode, and also thank our poets today Ananya, Jeyan, Clarissa, Archita, Asmita, and Ayesha. Also, I want remind you that you can enter your own poetry and art into the competition. Just check out kidspoetryclub.com for full details on the competition and how to enter. The competition is open until October 30th. One final reminder is that we’re back with a normal episode on Monday, with a brand new topic, and new poems.

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!!!

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