Zoo #44 – The Rhinohippoeleraffe

A sideways look at age, Colin McQueen - writer, Getting Older, Humour, My Life, Poetry, Real life through the kaleidoscope of age 1 Minute

Having spent a few days writing poems for my grandchildren, the zoo poems have taken on a rather more fanciful air.  I hope you will forgive this temporary lack of cynicism…

Once-upon-a-long-ago
When all the world was cold as snow.
And ice-cream grew from carrot trees
And camels fluttered on the breeze
There came along a fearsome beast
A creature who, to say the least,
Would not be happy should you laugh;
The Rhinohippoeleraffe.

His eyesight was so very poor;
He had a horn upon his jaw.
He lived in water, eating weed
To satisfy his massive greed.
You may have guessed, I must suppose,
He had a trunk where you’ve a nose.
His fur was filled with blotchy spots.
He looked like he’d got chickenpox.
A neck so long he touched the sky
(He never ever wore a tie)
Completed this ungainly creature.
(In fact it was his nicest feature.)

He had, as you may well conclude,
The disposition to be rude.
His temper frayed so very fast
No wonder that his days have passed
No longer does he walk upon
The greenish land where he belonged.
But then, it couldn’t last for long,
He always was the only one.

If a zoo is going to hold any attraction to a child, it surely has to include a creature or two that only otherwise exists in their imagination…

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16 thoughts on “Zoo #44 – The Rhinohippoeleraffe”

      1. Done – I have copied it (along with your name for credit) into my poetry folder. I think I will not reveal the title and allow them to guess and draw a picture of the animal based upon your description. We will also do the usual – identifying language that helps us recognize that it is a poem, and speculate on the author’s opinion of the topic or reason for writing it. 🙂 Then I will challenge them to create their own “mash-up” poem using animals, sports, etc. and illustrate it. Fun, Thanks!

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  4. Like the Hippacrockapig
    who loved to dance a little jig,
    He’d dance all day and often late
    little time to find a mate,
    Who might have liked to dance as well
    But he was under music’s spell,
    I heard the fellow passed away
    He danced himself to death they say,
    No-one cried or gave a fig
    For dancing Hippacrockapig…

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