They bend with ease,
they stretch and flex,
the bees’ knees
on skinny legs.
Bees have no feet;
did you ever look?
No toes, how neat!
No soles, how crook!
But bees have knees
that bend in the middle.
I bet they could dance
if you struck up a fiddle.
They can hop and skip
and do highland flings.
You wonder why
they really need wings.
And when they fly,
their long legs trailing,
their knees scrape the sky
while their wings go sailing.
Submitted 20 October 2013 for a dVerse Poetics prompt to write a poem for children — which is what I always thought this must be, even though it just arrived like any other poem, with no particular audience in mind.
This is definitely a very nice children's poem.. Had to google bee's knees to find the fun tongue in cheek... so it's really bee's knees too :-)
ReplyDelete:-) Thank you.
DeleteReally enjoyed this - especially the last stanza. Of course now I shall looking more closely at bees to see their legs without feet ;-)
ReplyDeleteThat bit's really true.
Deletesmiles...i like the thought of the knees scraping the skies...ha...this is cool kids poetry...it has energy but gets kids thinking....now where is that highland fling? smiles.
ReplyDeleteLovely.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely and funny.
ReplyDeleteWould look great on a birthday care. Now you'tt have to paint a picture to go with it.
BTW, off on a tangent: I always thought that the 'bee's knees' was a bastardized form of 'the business', meaning fabulous.
You're correct, Aprille. I've just used it differently/unexpectdly, as part of the joke.
DeleteI find myself with a huge smile spread across my face, Rosemary. This is so perfect for little ones to recite and memorize.
ReplyDeleteThis took me for a delightful ride to the ceiling!
ReplyDeleteOh wow... those bees scraping the sky...hmm :) Gorgeous kids poetry with a very cool buzz!
ReplyDeleteThe rhyming really worked in this--great for kids!
ReplyDelete