The Loaded Doggerel

Reflections of a Ten Pound Pom forty years on Can you prove mathematically that your fifty year-old boss is really only 32? And do it in rhyme? When a respected poet says 'there is no word in the English language that rhymes with orange' could you come up with a four verse 'poem' liberally sprinkled with those supposedly non-existent words - in ten minutes? For years his knack for finding the right words meant that John Walker was the 'go-to' man in the office whenever some silly verses were required in a birthday card or farewell card. But it was challenges like these that led to an interest in storytelling in rhyme - or at least something resembling rhyme. Emboldened by these successes John wrote more, often whiling away the hours on long journeys and he turned up one evening at the monthly meeting of the Queanbeyan Bush Poets group. Their enthusiastic responses and encouragement spurred him on so, in a way, they are entirely to blame for all this