Thursday, June 18, 2015

Bears

You and me, we once were bears
And bears we once-time were
We both had claws and pointy teeth
And thick, protective fur.
I tugged and pinched your fuzzy fur
And asked you to be mine
With rat bones, leaves and squirrel guts
I made a Valentine.
You said, “How sweet! A Valentine!”
It sounded like, “Rarr-rurrrr.”
And how I trembled when you tugged
And pinched my fuzzy fur.
We made sweet, bearish love in caves
And hunted fish in streams
We slept together, paws held tight
And met again in dreams.
And when the winter came we slept
The cold was sharp as pins
And when we woke, we were not bears
But Homo sapiens.
We went into the city then
And each obtained a job
You changed your name to Susan Beth
I changed my name to Bob.
We don't have caves for making love
Just mattress-on-the-floor
We don’t snatch fish from raging streams
Just buy it from the store.
And we don't tug or pinch too much
Because we don't have fur
But you and me, we once were bears
And bears we once-time were.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Jabberwocky Does Chores

‘Twas brillig and the Jabberwock
Had much to do around the house
Replacing lightbulbs, sweeping dust
And setting mice traps for the mouse.
And when he’d done those basic chores
No more did he the Missus fear
So rested he by the Tumtum tree
And drank a large and frothy beer.
And as in uffish thought he stood
He scraped his claw upon his tooth
And then remembered: “Frabjous drat!
I’ve got to fix the leaky roof!”
So, Jabberwock, with eyes of flame
Went whiffling up to fix the roof
But ladder’s rungs went snicker-snack!
He fell with one galumphing OOF.
“Ooch, ow! Ow, ush! I’ve bruised my tush!”
The Jabberwock began to moan
And with his tail between his legs
He went galumphing, sadly, home.
“And hast thou fixed the gutters yet?”
Mrs. Jabberwock was quick to ask
He shook his head, and showed instead
His bruised and battered Jabber-ass.
‘Twas brillig and the Jabber’s wife
All beamish, called the Bandersnatch
Described in full her husband’s fall
And chortled something awful.

My Weirdest Tinder Date

Chasing after my most recent Tinder date
Shouting: “Hey, you left your sweater, baby! Wait!”
She runs faster; I speed up—is this a race?
Tap her shoulder and she turns; I see her face
What this?! A gumdrop nose?! An oven tan?!
She's transformed! She is the Gingerbread Man!
“You can’t catch me!” she cackles, and I gasp
She kicks me, takes the sweater in her grasp
Still in shock, I watch her run for two more blocks
Running after her are bankers, maids, a fox…
Pretty soon half of New York is on the chase
They're obsessed; they want to eat her cookie face
“You can’t catch me!” she exclaims, “It’s all in vain!”
Then the gray Manhattan sky begins to rain
She turns soggy and she stumbles; she is weak
Her cookie flesh is melting-- "Help!" she shrieks
The mob attacks her; fox and maids are crushed
The bankers stuff their mouths with bready mush
The world is sick with mindless greed, I fear.
I take the sweater as a souvenir.

Water

Water—when I climbed to the top of the tall tower, gasping
I looked everywhere for you, but oh, you sneak!
The only moistness was on the back of a slick toad
I grasped at it once and once again; it leapt from my hands like soap!
And so, Water, I ran down the staircase to the underground
Searching the crypt to see if I would find you there
And oh, you sneak! I found your dewdrops on the rattiest shrouds
And from my candlelight, you winked at me, so cheeky!
I would lick you from a toad, but from a shroud?
….
Yes, as it turns out.
But don’t let it go to your head.

Monday, May 25, 2015

Grasping

The human mind is not capable of
grasping the Universe
The human
mind is not grapable of casping
the Universe
The not-Universe human is crasping
the not-grapable mind
Grasping the mind is not
the capable Universe
The mind of the Universe is not
not casping the grapable
Mind of human not
not-human
Capable universe
Of not is not
Grasp. Grasp. Grasp. Grasp.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Caught

That is not a very good poem, said the fly to the spider
Referring to its web
No, I’m afraid you misunderstand, said the spider
It is not a poem, but a net of silk threads to entrap you.

Dangerous

You might think there’s nothing more dangerous than a dangerous, dangerous dinosaur riding a dangerous, dangerous dirt bike over a dangerous, dangerous desert full of dangerous, dangerous dungeons.
But the most dangerous is not to know your own mind.