It's a TWOFER! (Or should that be "Two-Fer"? I'm never sure when to hyphenate my -fers)(365 Poems)(Your Saturday Morning Feel-Good Song)

First the poem:

What a queer bird, the frog are

When he sit he stand (almost)

When he walk he fly (almost)

When he talk he cry (almost)

He ain't got no sense, hardly

He ain't got no tail, neither, hardly

He sit on what he ain't got hardly

Then the song:

That's suitable for:

-- writing stories about little boys pretending to be frogs.
-- thinking the poem comes from Ogden Nash
-- learning it does not.

Instead, according to Wikipedia, the poem is an anonymous 19th century poem, and says not much more about the poem.

Musanim, which did that video, says the poem appeared in 1920s publications.  This guy, who was born in 1924, says his grandpa used to recite the poem to him, so it must have been around in 1924 or earlier.

That is where the story ends.  Other sites say it has appeared in other countries, Canada, New Zealand, and the like, but nobody knows where it started or who wrote it or what the story behind it, if there is one, might be.

It just exists.

And, finally, the Hot Actress, who I asked Sweetie to name but she didn't so we'll go with...

Elsa Pataky, who is in Fast and Furious 6 and plays

... I forgot what I was saying.

Your Saturday Morning Feel-Good Song:

Suitable for:

-- trying to learn to ride a unicycle, which is something I only just thought of right this moment but now I want to do that more than almost anything I can think of.
-- I bet I could do it.
-- Where does one get a unicycle?

Your Saturday Morning Feel-Good Song

Suitable for:

-- eating that leftover cheeseburger you brought home from McDonald's last night.
-- Wondering if it will ever become spring, for real.
-- Thinking about making a giant chalk drawing on your driveway, but it's probably too cold out yet.

Your Saturday Morning Feel-Good Song

Good for:

-- Playing "Mega T-Rex vs. Buzz Lightyear,"
-- Having to go and re-conquer "Plants vs. Zombies" it's a long story but I have to do this, okay?
-- Eating a PB&J sandwich. For breakfast.  (WHY DO WE NEVER HAVE PIZZA ANYMORE WHO ATE IT?)

Your Saturday Morning Feel-Good Song:

Good for:

-- Playing checkers with Mr Bunches
-- Not yet starting to clean up your office.
-- Wondering how early is too early to go for Cheeseburgers.

Your Saturday JUST PAST NOON OKAY I AM A LITTLE LATE Feel-Good Song.

Good for:

-- pumping your fist to as you jog the final mile of your three-mile jog today, while mouthing the words "Time Means Nothing!"

-- Beginning to organize all the various games your kids have into boxes and bags, then quitting to do something fun.

-- Eating a leftover hamburger. (We are out of pizza).

Your Saturday AFTERNOON Feel Good Song

Good for:

-- Not getting around to things on time.

-- Playing "Sky Racer" airplanes (if Mr Bunches will let you)

-- Looking at black-and-white photographs and pretending they were taken in the old days.

365 Poems, #6, and your Saturday Morning Feel-Good Song.

Hot Actress: January Jones

Poems worth reading. And worth thinking about.  Here's today's!

Life Is Fine!
Langston Hughes

I went down to the river,
I set down on the bank.
I tried to think but couldn't,
So I jumped in and sank.

I came up once and hollered!
I came up twice and cried!
If that water hadn't a-been so cold
I might've sunk and died.

But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!

I took the elevator
Sixteen floors above the ground.
I thought about my baby
And thought I would jump down.

I stood there and I hollered!
I stood there and I cried!
If it hadn't a-been so high
I might've jumped and died.

But it was High up there! It was high!

So since I'm still here livin',
I guess I will live on.
I could've died for love--
But for livin' I was born

Though you may hear me holler,
And you may see me cry--
I'll be dogged, sweet baby,
If you gonna see me die.

Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine! 

.

________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

 I actually read this poem about 5 years ago, back when I would post on a blog called Babies! Babies! Pets! Pets! that is now defunct. And then I forgot about it until today when I went to get the poem and thought "Langston Hughes" and there it was. 

 This poem, I think, may have inspired this song: 

 Which is a song I also love, and both have the same feeling to them: that as bad as things can seem, they maybe aren't that bad, yet, and so keep on going. 

 What caught me today about Hughes' poem, though, was that on reading it again, it's not necessarily a jubilant refrain, there, at the end. It could be taken as the speaker trying to convince himself that life is fine! Or it could be sarcastic. Because the last stanza seems to say the only reason he's going on is out of spite. 

But even with that, here's a thought: If you fake laugh long enough, you start real laughing. It's true. I've tried it several times. So if you fake live long enough, will you start to real live? 

 This, I think, might be a poem worth memorizing. I know lots of songs by memory, but almost no poems by memory. I might like to memorize this one, because almost any interpretation of it can come out positive, and you can't say that about everything.

And, speaking of positives, here is your Saturday Morning Feel-Good Song!

 

Suitable for:

-- Moot Court judging, which is what I will be doing today.

-- Closing your eyes and pretending it is not still snowing in March.

-- Eating pizza. (Hot only)

Your Saturday Morning Feel-Good Song

Good for:

-- Starting that exercise program!

-- Wondering if the hardware store sells kites.

-- Eating pizza (cold or hot.)

Your Saturday Morning Feel-Good Song

A suitable soundtrack for:

-- getting your bike out for the first time this spring...

-- finally tackling the organization of that junk drawer and finding three old scratch-off lottery tickets and winning $2!...

-- eating pizza. (Cold or hot.)