This is a thread game based on a contest GAMES magazine ran, years ago. The idea is to write a short poem composed of double dactyls. A dactyl is a three syllable poetry measure with the stress on the first syllable. The following poems are written in double dactyl (DA da da DA da da), and the objective of the game is to write a similar eight line poem composed of these. They must start with the words “Higgeldy Piggeldy”. The original contest winners (IIRC) are reprinted below.
Higgledy Piggeldy
Benjamin Harrison
Twenty-third President
Was and as such
Served between Clevelands
And save for this trivial
Idiosyncrasy
Didn’t do much.
Higgeldy Piggeldy
Marcus Antonious
What do you think of the
African Queen?
Gubernatorial
Duties require
My presence in Egypt
Ya know what I mean?
Higgeldy piggeldy
America’s father
Was a father of none
He married ol’ Martha
With a daughter and a son
He wears a big wig
All powdery white
And he takes it off
For bed at night.
Higgeldy piggeldy
America’s father
Was a father of none
He married ol’ Martha
With a daughter and a son
Wears a wig, all powdery white
And he takes it off
For bed at night.
To clarify, the fourth and eighth lines are meant to rhyme with each other and to be choriambs (DA-da-da-DA). The other lines are dactylic dimeter with no rhyme scheme.
Higgledy piggledy,
Arthur I. Garfunkel,
Bibliomaniac,
He is a rock.
Simon’s confederate,
Later his frenemy,
Sang like a nightingale,
Now he just squawks.
That’s good. @Happy_Lendervedder made a great effort despite my poor explanation, I think it is recommended the second line be a person, but this is not mandatory here. The fourth and eight lines rhyme and are choriambs, as @bibliophage says, but the other lines are double dactyls. Anyway,
Higgledy Piggeldy
William Shakespeare
Wrote splendid sonnets in
Stratford on Thames
Married Anne Hathaway
Though loved a Dark Lady
Then switched between Greeks and Cherchez les femmes.
That could be. This interpretation here is looser, but that doesn’t mean it was well described in the OP. The GAMES contest was perhaps in 1985(?) after the invention of the form in 1966, according to the above link.