Word-Birds
for Pit Pinegar
Most likely it was the Jabberwocky’s
Acquaintances first stirred my affection
For rhyming compounds––the tumtum
And the jubjub––although it may have been
The bear, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, taught my tongue
Their savory flavor––or Hurly and Burly,
The names Honeybun, in South Pacific,
Gave each coconut breast. Perhaps
Hoi poloi with its classical ring, a favorite
Locution of my father’s, hooked me,
And later, that itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny . . . .
It’s the echolalia, the la-di-da! of such
Combos I’m a canoodle-poodle for––
Hoity-toity, topsy-turvy, roly-poly––
Plus these congeries are efficient and
Often onomatopoetical––hanky-panky,
Fiddle-faddle, hustle-bustle––soundplay’s
Transcendent hurdy-gurdy that protracts
Time by going faster (a magician’s hocus-
Pocus, a witchdoctor ’s mumbo-jumbo).
I could go on willy-nilly, niddle-nodding
Lines, stumbling off higglely-piggledy. . . .