A, My Name is Alice

Last night I couldn’t fall asleep
Despite my kind of counting sheep,
Reciting ditties in my head
While toss and turning in my bed.

One tune goes through the alphabet.
If you’re from Brooklyn, I would bet
You know it too – you might recall
You’d chant it to a bouncing ball.

It starts off “A, my name is blank”
And in that space your mind would crank
A female name that starts with A
And in the next line, you would say:

“And my husband’s name is Al”
(Or Andrew, Austin or his pal).
“We come from Alabama” or
Another A place – there are more.

The final line is what we sell
Like “apples” – does this ring a bell?
Then you repeat with B and C
And all the letters up to Z.

I wish this worked, but it did not.
I gave it everything I’ve got
But knowing all that was at stake,
I finished, but was still awake!