Hawkins Hollow Nursery Rhymes
Woven Gesture Deck Reverse-Counting Fingerplay at the Carlisle Rain Porch
The woven deck is useful because its textured cards can be seen and handled without speech. Reverse counting from five to one appears first as a planned sequence, then deliberately refuses the expected “zero” ending: the sprinkle and rain chain supply a second memory instead. The dominant anchor is five fingers folding down through a silent shared route choice.
Rhyme
The pinecone shop had slipped from view.
Lex raised five fingers: “Here’s what we can do.”
At the rain-chain corner, no one spoke;
the woven deck passed on each careful stroke.
Five—Aralynn Fox showed “look around.”
Four—Aydin pointed where the boards stayed sound.
Three—Aleea bent the turn card west.
Two—Lex tapped “pause” against his chest.
One—four hands made the same small sign:
wiggle, settle, wait beside the chain.
They planned a click, but none would carry there;
the wet links gave a lighter note to air.
Tik went one drop. Tik-tik went two.
The weather joined the count and changed the cue.
No zero came. The sprinkle chose instead
a silver chain-song overhead.
Lex chose the woven card, not the gleaming face.
Aralynn Fox found the useful turning place.
Aydin checked the quieter boards once more.
Aleea led them back toward Carlisle’s porch door.
They did not take the first way they had planned.
The deck’s bent arrow shifted hand to hand.
At Carlisle rain porch, they opened it wide:
one woven memory on either side.
One side held five-to-one in hands held still;
one held the chain’s rain-count against the sill.
The porch and corner met without a sound—
two useful memories, turned around.
About This Rhyme
Performance style: Spoken reverse-counting fingerplay with silent hand signs and weather-timed pauses.
Estimated spoken length: About 90 seconds.