During the workshop yesterday, Chris Waters introduced us to the phrase 'when tigers smoked long pipes' - one used to open a story in Korea, like our own 'once upon a time'.

Today's poem was inspired by the image of those tigers. Thank you, Chris. I enjoyed writing this nonsense. 

When tigers …

D’you know, when tigers smoked long pipes
And elephants wore pyjamas
King of the forest was an owl
And world was ruled by llamas

When a smoking ban was decreed
Owl twisted his head a full turn
The tigers refused to listen
Thinking they had nothing to learn

So they puffed away all day long
Not helping world peace for one jot
Then the elephants sat on them
In place of cushions, they’d forgot

Now, the elephant’s hide is thick
And the tigers had to agree
The llamas were right all along
Life is better when air’s smoke free