Tags
1950s-1960s, clothesline rope, Double Dutch, fantastic exercise, fun game, jump rope, jump rope rhymes, jumpers, Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack, National Poetry Month, sidewalk game, street game, three-stranded rope, turners
Back in the day, we used to sing the following jump rope rhyme while playing Double Dutch:
MISS MARY MACK, Mack, Mack
All dressed in black, black, black
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons
All down her back, back, back
She asked her mother, mother, mother
For fifty cents, cents, cents
To see the elephant, elephant, elephant
Jump the fence, fence, fence.
They jumped so high, high, high
They touched the sky, sky, sky
And didn’t come back, back, back
Till the fourth of July, July, July
I was feeling a bit nostalgic when I composed both “Under Street Lamp” and “Double Dutching.” Below is “Double Dutching”—another poem in honor of National Poetry Month (April 2015):
Double Dutch
Jump rope
Sidewalk game;
Inner city youths’ claim to fame.
Turners set beat – 1, 2; 1, 2—
Singing rhymes in time
As Jumper enters ropes,
Dope on a dime turns:
Fancy foot stepping,
Chiming in,
Uninterrupted versifying;
Double dutching happy-go-lucky;
Picture-perfect work-study,
‘Til Jumper exits out!
~ September 2014
By yourself you’re unprotected.
With a friend you can face the worst.
Can you round up a third?
A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped. ~ Ecclesiastes 4:12, MSG
Gone Fishin' 
Oh how I remember this game. We couldn’t afford a real jump rope, so we made due with the clothe line. There was also hide n seek and release the den.
Thanks for the memories.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
We couldn’t afford a real jump rope either, so we used the clothesline rope as well. Double Dutch brings back some fond memories. It was my pleasure to share this poem about Double Dutch jump rope.
I also remember playing Hide n Seek, but we never played Release the Den. There were so many great great games that kept us out of trouble! Thanks for taking the time to read this posting and leave a comment.
Every blessing . . . . .
Great memories for sure. Seemed like very simple times. I was teaching my grandgirls just yesterday how to make necklaces and bracelets with the clover flowers. They challenged me to do cartwheels. No way could I do that.
ThinkingChamber,
Thank you for liking and for commenting on this blog entry. I truly appreciate your support.
Concerning cartwheels, way back when I was 48 my students had “challenged” me to do a cartwheel. I had learned then that the cartwheels I easily could do when I was 20 years younger I no longer could do at all–in spite of the fact that in my mind I saw me doing them!
Many blessings . . . .