Month: September 2014

Like A Pony

What’s a pony like? Well, oats
And grass, I think. Or is that goats?
No, “goats” is plural, so are those
Not is that–neither, I suppose,
Is pertinent, because I asked,
What is a pony like? You’re tasked
With finding me a simile:
A pony is like…something. See?
Comparison with as or like,
E.g., a pony’s like a trike,
A sort of starter horse for little
Buckaroos, or those whose brittle
Skeletons can’t handle heights,
Or maybe Lilliputian knights.
So, what’s a pony like? Your turn.
Elucidate. I’m here to learn.

I Could Build A Bridge

I could build a bridge

If need be

If you told me to
I could build a bridge

If you asked me to
I would ask you
To what purpose
To where
From where
And from when to when

But if you said
A bridge is to be built
And I should build it
I could
Would
Build a bridge

I would want to know
The reason for the bridge
But I could build it
If you said to build it

Do you want to cross
This stream
That gorge
A cataract

And having crossed
Will you perhaps
Someday
Want
Or need
Or wish
Or hope
To return
To where
You said
To build a bridge

I would wonder

But I would build a bridge
If you told me
Build a bridge

Will you tell me
No
That is not the bridge
That is not my bridge
I said
Build a bridge
You give me this
Thing
This not-a-bridge

I will build a bridge
And if you tell me
Build a bridge of stone
I will
Build a bridge of stone
And if you step
And fall
From/through/with
Because of
The bridge of stone
Built by your command
Will I regret
Or you
That I did not know how
To build the bridge
You need

If you need to cross
This stream
Today
Right now
I will carry you

If you want to cross
That gorge
I will ferry you

If you wish to cross
A cataract
I will make it
So

And if you
Later
Wish/want/need
Hope
Return
I will be here
With
Or without
A bridge

As you command

Every Third Day

January third,
Feb. six,
The ninth of March…
You see the tricks?
The twelfth of April,
Ides of May
And June eighteenth
Should show the way.
How ’bout July
The twenty-first?
Not yet? Oh, man,
Your math’s the worst!
The twenty-fourth
Of August…right?
9/27!
(That’s tonight.)
You’ve one more chance
For satisfaction:
Halloween Eve!
(Hint: The fraction,
Month divided
By the day.)
That’s right,
You’ve got it now.
Hooray!

No Such Word

Forty years ago tonight
Was Tuesday, if I’ve got that right,
Which means we’ve traveled all this way
To move ahead a single day.
That Tuesday when I went to bed
My chlorined hair was greenish-red;
The chlorine stayed, the hair is gone
Like life without “triathlon,”
A sport whose seed escaped the husk
September 25th, near dusk,
On San Diego’s Mission Bay.
My goodness, that’s an active day.