Saturday, November 11, 2023

Poetry Friday: Mud, Mud

It's not Poetry Friday -- more like Poetry Saturday -- here in Uganda. (Here's yesterday's roundup.) I'm taking a break from a stack of lesson planning and grading to tell you that National Poetry Month is still going on, since this week I received a NPM postcard from Irene that has been in the mail for six months. I also received two birthday cards, and my birthday is in February. So those have been in the mail for about nine months. A friend got an invitation to a wedding that took place in June. 

 


 

In addition to reflections that the Ugandan postal service is not fast, but does work, this postcard gave rise to thoughts about hippos, and I decided to share with you a song I remember from my childhood, "The Hippopotamus Song," by Flanders and Swann.



It's the rainy season, and therefore the muddy season, here where I live, so this is appropriate listening. I have heard that Lake Victoria does have hippopotami in it, but so far I haven't seen once since moving here. 


7 comments:

Tabatha said...

I remember that song!
I heard that hippopotami are more dangerous than we knew (when we were singing about mud) so I'm glad you haven't seen any.
Congrats on getting some mail! Sounds like somebody walked it to you.

Patricia Franz said...

I have that postcard, too, Ruth -- though no river or lake nearby to check for hippopotomi ... :)
Happy Rainy Season!

Heidi Mordhorst said...

Hello to you! I've missed you on my longish break. Happy birthday, happy NPM, and happy hippopotami. I hope all is well there.

Karen Edmisten said...

I'm glad that you do get your mail eventually. :) I think the lateness of some of those communications could inspire poems: what would be the most dramatic piece of late mail to write about? Hmmm. :)

Denise Krebs said...

Ruth, all those slow mail stories made me smile. I experienced shorter delays when we were overseas, but I'm pretty sure we didn't get all the mail that tried to get there. Then during Covid, the post office just shut down for years. Here's to seeing a hippopotamus someday in your lake!

Rose Cappelli said...

Thanks for a late afternoon smile!

Linda B said...

And I am late getting to you, too, Ruth. That song is new to me but so cute! However, I'm glad you don't see any (so far) there. I don't have many mail problems except our mailman keeps delivering to one street over, same house number! I get their mail, too & we've gotten to know each other, so there's one good thing! Hope all else is going well for you & your husband!