Thursday 7 April 2011

April A to Z blogging challenge Foxtrot

Foxtrot

Have you seen a fox trot
Neatly through the night,
Keeping out of eyeshot
And the farm dog’s bite?

Red coat and sharp black nose,
Bushy tail held straight,
Fleet of foot on soft toes,
Dinner can’t be late.

Now the henhouse beckons,
All the hens asleep,
Reynard swiftly reckons
How many he will reap.

One, two, three or seven?
Hungry cubs await
Chicken supper heaven -
Then he hears, too late

The farmer’s heavy footfalls,
The roaring of his gun;
The beating of his heart stalls -
Reynard’s life is done.

The Foxtrot is a ballroom dance originally danced to ragtime but now performed to big band music or ‘swing’. It was first executed publicly in 1914 and from then and through the 1940s it was the most popular fast dance. Most of the records produced in this period were foxtrots.

In the early 1950s rock and roll made its debut. Record companies were unsure what style of dancing would be most pertinent to the music. Decca Records decided to classify their rock and roll discs as foxtrots, so Bill Haley’s ‘Rock around the Clock’ was labelled a foxtrot. It is estimated that the recording sold more than 25 million copies to become the biggest selling foxtrot of all time.

Foxtrot comes after Echo and before Golf in the NATO phonetic alphabet which is always used in communications between aircraft and control tower when two nations are involved. 

11 comments:

  1. A lovely verse, Janice. I enjoy the image of a fox trotting in the night. The dance, the dinner and the chaos of life.

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  2. Brilliant poem and a feast of foxy information :o)

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  3. Loved the poem! Loved the foxtrot too - brought back memories of my ballroom dancing lessons as a teenager! What fun we had!

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  4. JANICE,do u know the name of flowers are on the header of your blog?
    great poem.
    Have a nice day, dear
    http://graceolsson.com/blog/2011/04/life/

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  5. You have started the A to Z challenge magnificently! Up to the letter F and going strong.

    I enjoyed your poem, which I think has a wonderful rhythm.

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  6. Unfortunately I couldn't rock to your poem, I didn't find the adquate music !
    I loved Rockn'roll, and Mr. G and I were quite a good couple to dance together ! Now I think we would look a little ridiculous, like Mick Jagger who still thinks that he looks like 30 !

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  7. Nice poem with a catchy rhythm. Can't wait for "G"

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  8. Nice poem, although sad for poor Reynard...
    Interesting info about the foxtrot.

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  9. I didn't know "Rock Around the Clock" was foxtrot music. How interesting! Loved the poem. I once saw a fox running through the woods. So beautiful.

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  10. Thank goodness we don't have foxes here. They would have a field day with all my chickens! :)

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  11. Great poem - but sad ending.

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