Thong Rap

by Elizabeth Sheppard
This poem (or rather, doggerel) was written impromptu as a set task on the theme of thongs at a Parramatta ellowship of !ustralian "riters meeting at Parramatta #ibrary on $th %o& '(()* +t ,ust sprang to mind in fi&e minutes* + read it at the same meeting - with e.treme diffi/ulty* 0uaranteed to strengthen weak tongue mus/les1

+ turned the page, and found the letter t, !nd under, Thong + read This is a pair 2f floppy rubber sandals for the bea/h, !nd under that, beside the number ', + read, a leather strap to tie your shoe* !nd after that, surprising re&elations, of meanings strange, e.oti/, and amazing* !h, no, + thought, there3s more to thongs than that1 So here it is, my &ery own Thong 4ap* When I wath thmall, I thought Id thing a thong, But thinging thongs wath harder than I thought. I thqueaked and thquawked, but no thound would come out Ath thweet ath hymnth my father thang in church, Till one day when I purthed my lipth and thucked A thweet low thound wath heard I thnatched a breath, and thucked again, And thang another note But !randad thaid "Thats backwards whistling, lass, that sounds absurd# Its forwards you must blow, to sing like birds.$ Tho then a thruggle thtarted, to re%erth &y thuck, to blow, my whithle, to a thong. &y cheekth were good at thucking, but to blow 'equired the uthe of other muthle groupth &y couthin Betty wath tho kind and withe, And found a way to make me realithe That blowing wath (utht thucking in re%erth, By dunking me in wa%eth and thea and thurf Tho, ath I thwam and thplathed, I puffed and blew, And bubbly thounds emerged, like ")oooo, )oooo, )oooo $ And thuddenly, the sky and sun and sea And rocks and scallop shells and e%en me Were filled with songs that seemed to sing themsel%es, And skim like swallows, ring like sil%er bells, And so my whistle turned from thong to song, And I%e been singing, now, my whole life long.