May 31st marks National Hole in a Bucket Day, a delightfully odd celebration that, for me, stirs up a bit of nostalgia. I still remember standing on a school stage with my friends, all of us performing the song with its endless back-and-forth between Henry and Liza. As kids, we thought it was funny and “just a song”—but looking back, there was a strange kind of wisdom in it. Even now, the song pops into my head when I find myself circling the same problems, searching for tools that never quite work the way I need them to.

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A Closer Look at the Song—and Our Buckets

The History and the Song

The song itself has a long and circular history. It began as an 18th-century German folk tune—“Ein Loch ist im Eimer”—and traveled across time and language to become a favorite in classrooms and camps. It gained wider recognition in 1960 with a recording by Harry Belafonte and Odetta, and has since become both a musical memory and a miniature logic puzzle.

Its charm lies in its repetition, its humor, and its strangely familiar message: sometimes, every solution depends on a problem you haven’t solved yet.

Have a listen:

The Hole in Our Bucket Lives

And yes, there’s a hole in my bucket—and maybe in yours, too. Not just the literal kind (though who hasn’t dealt with leaky buckets at least once?), but the metaphorical kind—the one that shows up in daily life.

We try to fix things—relationships, systems, ourselves—but often find that the solution depends on another piece that’s broken, missing, or – in that weird twist of whatever – reliant on the very thing we’re trying to repair. And yet, like Henry and Liza, we keep talking. We keep trying.

Maybe that’s the hidden wisdom: that persistence, even in the face of the absurd, is something to be admired, and worth it!

On another note, maybe the point of the song—and the day—isn’t to fix the bucket at all.

Maybe it’s to laugh at the loopi-ness of it all.
To see the wisdom in the repetition.
To pause when we find ourselves going in circles—and realize that we’re not alone in this.

And if you’re feeling inspired to write your own looping tune or poetic exchange, check out this week’s Poetic Sundays.

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Poetic Sundays: There’s a Poem in My Problem!

If you’ve heard “There’s a Hole in My Bucket,” you know it’s a looping, playful dialogue—each fix leads to a new problem, circling back to where it began. That’s what makes it a great example of a cumulative or circular poem, often used in folk traditions to teach sequencing, logic, and humor.

Features of “There’s a Hole in My Bucket” Style

• Form: Call and response, dialogue-based
• Structure: Circular/cumulative, returning to the starting point
• Repetition: Extensive, both within and across verses
• Rhyme Scheme: Variable, not strictly fixed
• Typical Use: Folk, children’s songs, oral tradition

So How Can We Write One?

Want to write your own version? Here is a quick step-by-step for you:

1. Pick a Simple or Everyday Problem and Two Characters

Choose a basic situation—like a broken toy or a missing sock—and create two characters: one with the problem(like Henry), and one who offers advice (like Liza) or more problems!

2. Write in Dialogue with Repetition and Build Up

Use call-and-response style. One person asks or complains, the other gives a solution that leads to a new problem. Each new verse repeats a bit (or more) of the earlier lines and adds a new twist, and each new suggestion leads to a new obstacle.

This creates a cumulative, escalating problem.

3. End in a Loop

Bring the poem full circle by returning to the original problem. It creates humor, closure, and that classic sense of going nowhere fast.

Tips:

• Keep the language simple and playful
• If you want to sing it, then use rhythm and repetition over rhyme. But the choice is yours.
• Feel free to be absurd and silly—it’s part of the fun
• Remember, we are not problem solving here!
• You could simply use the basic structure of this song and fill in the blanks with your own words (like below), or make it your own.
  • — There’s a ___ in my ___, dear ___, dear ___,
    There’s a ___ in my ___, dear ___, a ___!
    — Then ___ it, dear ___, dear ___, dear ___,
    Then ___ it, dear ___, dear ___, ___ it!
    — But I can’t, because ___…
    (and repeat!)

My Attempt

Halfway Done-Home

Me:
I need to clean the house today,
It’s such a mess — can’t live this way.

Also Me:
Then start with laundry, sort and fold,
It’s not that hard — or so I’m told.

Me:
But there’s no soap, and clothes are strewn,
I’ve lost my list — again, too soon!

Also Me:
Then clean the sink, it’s not too late,
Just wipe it down, it’ll feel great.

Me:
I meant to clean, to make things bright,
A welcome home, a sweet delight.
But then I found some papers old,
A letter, notes — a story told.

Also Me:
That’s lovely, yes — but floors need mops,
And halfway clean is where it stops.

Me:
Now every room’s a halfway zone,
With piles and memories overgrown.
So round I go, not quite begun,
The list grows longer — isn’t this fun?

~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

Recently

At Home and On My Blog and Elsewhere

Posts that made their way out here since my last scribblings.

• Sunday Scribblings #224: Do More on Doolittle Day!
• The Literary Tea Passport: 10 Amazing Stamp-Worthy Stops in Books
• Creative and Unique Gifts with Heart for Dads and Grads

As for at home, the poem I wrote above is exactly how my week has been going! And I still have some of the tasks pending (so I ordered dinner in for myself!)

Was super-stoked to see Kannada lit totally owning it with the Booker Prize win this past week. And that made Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp one of my current reads along with the one I started the previous week – Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler.

Upcoming

On My Blog & Homefront

A couple of posts hopefully…

Celebrations This Week For Us

Literary Celebrations (close-to-it also!)

• Literary birthdays this week include: Simon Armitage on May 26th; John Cheever and Julia Ward Howe on the 27th; Ian Fleming, Patrick White, Meg Wolitzer, and Maeve Binchy on the 28th; Andrew Clements and G.K. Chesterton on the 29th; Countee Cullen on the 30th of May; Lynne Truss and Walt Whitman on May 31st; Colleen McCullough on June 1st
• May 26 observes World Dracula Day (Dracula was published on May 26, 1897)
• The 29th is National Paperclip Day
• It is National Speak in Sentences Day on the 31st of May.
• Followed by National Penpal Day on June 1st

Foodie Celebrations

• The 26th of May is certainly sweet – with National Cherry Dessert Day and National Blueberry Cheesecake Day
• Followed by more sweetness because it is National Grape Popsicle Day on May 27th
• Then we have International Burger Day, World Passion Fruit Martini Day, and World Hunger Day on the 28th of May
• While the 29th is National Biscuit Day
• It is National Mint Julep Day on the 30th of May
• Followed by National Macaroon Day on the 31st
• The month of June starts off with National Hazelnut Cake Day and National Olive Day as well as World Milk Day

Other Celebrations

• National Paper Airplane Day and World Lindy Hop Day are observed on May 26th
• The 27th observes National Cellophane Tape Day, Nothing to Fear Day as well as Old Time Player Piano Day
• It is Amnesty International Day on the 28th of May
• The 29th of May celebrates International Day of UN Peacekeepers and World Otter Day
• And given that it is 5/29, it is also National 529 Day
• May 30th is National Creativity Day, National Hole In My Bucket Day as well as Fakesgiving. It is also World MS Day
• Followed by National Smile Day and World Parrot Day on the 31st of May
• June kicks off with National Heimlich Maneuver Day, National Go Barefoot Day, and National Say Something Nice Day as well as World Reef Awareness Day on the 1st. It is also Global Day of Parents

Wrapped Up: My Hole-y Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, you have reached the end of this Sunday Scribblings! As always, I welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions about this post. And do let me know if you plan to celebrate any of these mentioned celebrations this coming week/month?

Linking this to the Sunday Post over at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday Salon