Waiting for a Lecture
z
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[1997]
Life is a Steaming Pile of Donkey Doo-Doos
Hey diddle diddle
The cat and the fiddle,
God’s up there,
The devil’s down there
And here am I.
Trapped.
In the middle.
[1996]
The Snake
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
Chrissy shan’t miss
her pet snake.
It slithered and it wriggled
along,
long,
on,
that wicked fellow John.
It looked at her longingly,
Chrissy’s pet snake
Hiss hiss! He he!
She hit it with a broom
in the living-room,
Chrissy’s pet snake.
‘For Pete’s sake!’
(for that was his name)
‘You’ve squashed his brain!’
I yelled at her,
though not deterred
a jot.
‘I should have shot
both you and the snake,’
she said to me.
Ha ha! He he! Hiss hiss!
Chrissy shan’t miss
her pet snake.
hiss!
hiss!
hiss!
hiss!
hiss!
hiss!
hiss!
hiss!
bah!
humbug!
hiss!
hiss!
hiss!
hiss!
[1997]
Pearl Fishers
Fishermen off the island of Tamarind
Wear stone blocks
Around their necks and ankles
Which keep them underwater
Till their deaths.
Unless a pearl-minded friend
Bewitched by a spout of mercy
Notices the flute of bubbles
And offers a hand of relief
To prolong the Torture of Life.
[2007]