The Centipede Goes to the Ball

Written by Linda Cracknell, illustrated by Laura Codona, aged 11, patient at Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh.
Inspired by James and the Giant Peach

In my beetroot-coloured boots
I could form a ballet troupe
or a Barndance – do-si-do,
Bolero duos – quick-quick-slow.
Please don’t come – the floor’s complete
with my hundred-odd sweet feet.
There’s only forty-two?
So what! Look what they can do:
Boogie-woogie, Bossa-Nova;
Breakdance or Bangra for the solos.
Bachata, Bump-and-Grind,
Boogalooing that’s divine.
I’m aiming for a personal best
to be the most girating pest
with heels that clickety-clack;
on my head my red Fez hat.
My Bellydance is quite a giggle
but awesomest? My Bigmarchwiggle.
Legs whirring briskly,
see me on Strictly!
Forty-two beautiful beetroot boot-feet
are going to the ball.