There once was a pixie named Trixie
Who loved to trick people all the time.
She didn’t care who her victims were
Despite knowing pranking was a crime.
The Queen of the Cornish Pixies
Declared pranks illegal after the fight
They fought in the early nineteenth century
With humans on one cold June night.
Trixie would keep the pranks simple
Making sure no one could detect her.
She’d unscrew the diner’s salt shakers
She’d switch all the salt and sugar.
Then there were those warm days and cool nights
When the old school trickster in her wanted to play.
Girls ran from their boyfriends, livid with anger
Or crying without knowing what to say.
Little boys got sore red bums from their moms’ hands
Little girls got grounded for breaking dirty dishes.
Mothers argued with fathers about missing money
Fathers lost gifts for their birthday wishes.
Halloween and April Fool’s were the best holidays
For tricking and pranking as many people as she could.
It didn’t matter that everyone was pranking each other
What mattered most was that she tricked them all good.
After years of the pixie world hiding from humans
Trixie, the pixie, was so bored she was busting at the seams.
She needed to have fun and to make others laugh or cry
She needed to wake people from their comfortable dreams.
The morning of April first came faster than expected
With the sun shining brightly, dew stuck to the ground.
Trixie took all year to prepare for the ultimate prank
by gathering intel on everyone she found.
She spread rumors about the village folk
Making the silly adults fight.
So she could trick all the children
Into following her into the night.
The small children were delighted
By Trixie’s green garments and blue skin.
It was easy to sneak them out
While the adults fought about love and sin.
“Come with me young ones to the trees
Come with me if you please.
I’ve got candies and sweets
I’ve got chocolate-covered treats.”
All the village children followed
Ignoring the tales of the pixies.
The children skipped all the way
Through the woods towards Trixie’s.
By the time they got there
The white sun was peaking.
There was singing and dancing
No need for speaking.
The children danced and played
Listening to music all day long.
Trixie snuck back to town
Checking if anything went wrong.
As she suspected, happily
The parents were beside themselves.
Searching for their babies
In closets, under all the beds and shelves.
Trixie laughed and she giggled
As she watched the parents call out.
Hidden, she grinned into the light
As she heard them scream and shout.
Satisfied, she traveled back to her home
Where the children feasted on sweets.
Satisfied, she danced and sang for them
As they devoured all their treats.
Once the food was all gone
And the sun retired,
Trixie brought back the kids
All hyper and wired.
She sent the children to their homes
With upset stomachs and cold hands.
The parents held their babes tightly
Ordering them with quick demands.
Demands to tell them where they were
And who had taken them all day long.
The children told them nothing
Keeping their promise and broke out in song.
“Today is the day for laughing
Today is the day for jokes.
Laugh at the teachers and caregivers,
Laugh at all the grown folks.
“For all you do is fight and work
For your own selfish ways and needs.
You don’t care who it hurts
Ignoring us for your trinkets and beads.
“We won’t listen to the old mouths
We won’t listen to the old ways.
All you do is argue and complain
Now is the start of new days.
“We will listen to the sun
And we will listen to the moon.
Nothing our parents say
Will matter until the end of June.”
Trixie taught them this horrid mean song
To torment their parents further.
Each parent needed to be taught
How to be a good mother or father.
The song did its trick
The parents wrung their hands.
Not sure what they should do
As their children took their stands.
The children stayed up late
Expended their energy until midnight.
When they cried out to their parents
“Happy April Fool’s Day”—what a sight!
The relief on their parents' old faces
The glee on that of their kids’
Was enough to send Trixie home
Happiness glowing from her eyelids.
But it didn’t last the way she had hoped
Remember, the elders considered pranking a crime.
Trixie explained that teaching the humans lessons
Would be a good reason for the pranks this time.
Once the holiday was done
The elders brought Trixie before everyone.
“What shall we do with you, Trixie?
You’ve been a very naughty little pixie.”
“Do with me what you will, for I did good.
Their parents needed to be shown
That what they were doing was evil
They needed to be knocked off their thrown.
“I taught them what matters.
I showed them what they could lose.
I gave them a taste of life
A life they wouldn’t choose.
“Now they will treat their children right
Love them proper, and hold them close long into the night.
Don’t punish me, don’t punish us.
What we do isn’t righteous, what we do is right.”
The pixies did muse in silence
As they listened to Trixie preach.
They agreed with her reasoning
They also had lessons to teach.
The Queen of the Cornish Pixies
Held up her hand for everyone’s attention.
“Trixie has spoken words that are true.
We will deal with the humans in celebration.”
The pixies tortured those poor humans
Until Pixie Day did come in the middle of June.
The children taught their parents how to behave
With the pixies telling them, it will end soon.
Trixie didn’t get into trouble
She wasn’t charged with any crime.
The queen changed all the laws
Saying it was for the good this time.
From that day forward on every April Fool’s
All the humans from town remembered Trixie
By making their parents laugh, giggle or cry
The same way as would any little pixie.
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4 comments
'Trixie would keep the pranks simple Making sure no one could detect her. She’d unscrew the diner’s salt shakers She’d switch all the salt and sugar' - I can't see a rhyme in this one. Did you have something specific in mind with the meter?
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Maybe it's how I pronounce the words, but her and sugar rhyme for me. As for meter, I counted the syllables but no there's not a distinct pattern to it. I only fiddle around with rhyming poetry so any tips are welcome!
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Perhaps you're right about the rhyme, although it doesn't sound too convincing to my ears. Just one person's opinion, though. If I could advise anything, I'd say keep the meter as consistent as you can: this will allow the reader to fall into the rhythm and the poem will flow, which helps both with silent reading as well as out loud.
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Thanks for the advice! I'll try to keep that in mind next time.
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