WordsOut poems by
Joan's
birthday picnic
for
If you go down to the church today you’d better go in
disguise
you’ll find
a trip in a coach for which she'll take charge—
or maybe a
creche for Little and Large
for
any event she thinks it is meant for a picnic.
When you see Joan you have to look twice, cos she’s
wearing a different hat,
and she lives alone, well truer to say, she shares her house with a cat
but that’s not at all, don’t go up the stairs
for if you do you’ll be caught unawares
for that’s the place the teddy bears have their picnic.
Bedrooms full of teddy bears
the little teddy bears are having a wonderful time today.
Joan loves all her teddy bears
she likes to talk to them and take them away on holiday…
Well there’s nothing strange in that
a lot of people imagine that cuddly toys are alive…
it's just they usually find out the truth round about the age of six
and don’t go on till they’re seventy-five.
If there’s a social event coming up and you want to be
entertained
you can count on Joan to amuse with her music she’s never been classically
trained
but she’ll do a song
with Dorothy King
(there’s nothing racy
that they cannot sing)
the Monday Fellowship isn’t always a picnic.
that is the place in which she’s unchallenged queen of her domain—
think
of the cholesterol
that’s made a feature of the thicker vicars of
You just want a cup of tea
but have a flapjack a sandwich a brownie and I have a hunch
you’ll be at the mercy of Joan’s bread pudding if you don’t watch your step
so stay away from the Drop In Lunch.
If you go down to the church today, you’d better go
carefully
for everyone is gathered because of her three-quarter century
she’s seen them come, and she’s seen them depart
but they all have a place in her great big heart
for when Joan’s in the room there can never be gloom but a picnic!
Performed in the lounge at