Saturday, April 26, 2025

Ava's Dollhouse version 2 comical poem 561 by Angela Lansbury, revised with revisions explained


 Ava had a little dolly

And the dolly's name was Molly

Molly had a taller sister

And her sister's name was Elsa


Doll sisters lived in a big house

Which had a dog, a cat, and mouse

It had a garden, pots with flowers

By a clock sundial - counts hours

 

By the front door shines a blue car

If dollies want to travel far

A train parks in the train station

Police guard their police station 


In the hallway see a round rug

Where Molly meets all with a hug


In the hallway by the window

Is a long inviting settee

When you have nowhere else to go

Shut your eyes, dream of sea - or tea


In the kitchen the best honey

Which must cost a lot of money

In the kitchen, a chef or cook

Has hat, apron, bowl, dishes' book


Upstairs, on floor three, is a bed

A pillow where dolls lay their head

A toy box, plus small and big toys

Silent toys which won't make a noise


And pictures fixed on ev'ry wall

(We used blue gum to fix them all)

A wardrobe with a long mirror

Where smart dollies dress for dinner


Up on the roof's a helipad

Where you can land a little plane

A tower and a sloping roof 

Which makes a run'way for the rain


The roof has statues of a dog

A Noah's ark, tortoise and frog

A cow, a horse, even a bear

A small monster with lots of hair


On the roof the cat with claws

Sits beside the Santa Claus

Who lives, hides, on the roof all year

Waiting to bring his Christmas cheer


Yes, dolly does have a brother

And a father, and a mother

Dolly-sitter Ava will stay

While dollies' Dad's on holiday.


Each day dolly girls go to school

The school has lots of written rules

About the times when you can play

A calendar of holidays.


At bedtime with a sigh

Dolly has to say goodbye

But Dolly is here to stay

Ready to play another day


So Ava shuts the door, the house

Puts in the cat, puts out the mouse

She says, 'dear dollies, please sleep tight

I wish you, all, a peaceful night'.

-ends-

A new version, cut or expanded to fit 8 syllables per line, added jokes, with illustrations added later today.

Note to poem writers and readers: -

To cut out a syllable, change mother to mum, father to Dad, granny to gran, every to each, dollies to dolly, many other plurals to singular, little to small, a lot of to lots of, past tense and present continuous to simple present tense. To add a syllable, do the reverse, change small to tiny or little. Sometimes by making change you can add an alliteration. 

I needed an extra syllable in the line about the monster. Should I add the words bit or small. The monster was small. A small monster adds the inconguity which is amusing.

I needed to lose a syllable to the last line, ending a very good night. I changed it to peaceful night. That was slightly more original than good night.

Toys and DIY

It would be easy to print a tiny list of rules for a school wall, or dolls. house kitchen. Six point type. Or a psotage stamp size piece of white paper with your best calligraphy. Or a piece cut from one of those irritating instruction books in tiny print in multiple languages. Or a postage stamp with the head of the president or king or hero or your country or the country you visit on holiday.

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