In a damp, bluesy club in the middle of the reeds
Two amphibious musicians gathered in the weeds
Stringed instruments of driftwood and canary grass
Played with webbed fingers and a dash of southern sass
Two of them will face off to see who would headline
Swamp juice and flies aplenty and the music is divine
Marsh creatures waiting, having a drink on mossy log
While they watched the marsh house band, Bulrush Bog
Tadpoles grooving in the water, afraid of the limelight
Since they are literally spineless, some likely stage fright
Beavers gnawing on wood, carving out a double bass
Muskrats drumming cattails at Animal’s Muppet pace
The music now quiets with the sun as the light goes dim
Fireflies set the mood, drinks filled, lake foam to the brim
Two finalists take stage, Marsh music battle is to start
Yet… they sounded the same, you couldn’t tell them apart
So how do you decide which musical act will take the win
When it’s a toad with a fiddle versus a frog with a violin?
January 23, 2023
The Fiddler and the Frog Contest
Sponsor: Craig Cornish
There once was a frog
Who sat on a log
And had an amphibious thought
If you crossed some newts
With salamands cute
Exactly then, what have you got?
But when he asked Newt,
Newt got rather cross,
Said why would you want to do that?
When he asked the ‘mander
He got up his dander
They got in a similar spat
So he hit the road
And found him a toad
O Lawd, she had glorious thighs!
Since it got him naught
He banished his thought
Now they share his log, eating flies
Thundering Blunderbuss!
What is a platypus?
Looks like a beaver, but
Has a duck's bill.
Fairly cute little guy,
Ornithorhynchidae*
Lives in Australia, is
On the no-kill.
Semi-aquatic and
Strangely neurotic, it
Lays eggs like birds and has
Venom like snakes.
Weirdly amphibious,
Bio-fluorescent fur
Webbing between the toes,
Strong swimmers make.
————
Technically, this is a Didactic Double Dactyl
since it’s full of educational goodies too.
A double dactyl is a form of McWhirtle, but
apparently, it is also a form of black death.
Switching to the McWhirtle on a hunch, lol.
*6 syllables, rhymes with ‘guy’ (like or-ni-tho-rin-ke-die)
Yes, little frog
You were floating downstream
On the surface of a giant leaf
Carried along by the swift current
Navigating your way around
The thick forrest of weeds
And through the dense undergrowth
That runs along the water's edge
Pursued by the hungry pike
Narrowly escaping from the jaws of death
You were swept downstream
Towards the mouth of the great river
Where all journeys begin and end,
And yes, the heavens were smiling down
On that fateful day
As you set forth on a voyage
Of adventure and discovery
Leaving behind the amphibious dreams
Of a little tadpole
Spawned in the mucous-laden stream,
And yes, this is the way that life happens
It's always some conflict between the past
And the present
Some upheaval of the soul
To overcome the fearful moment
And escape into the future
With all its hopes and dreams
Waiting to be fulfilled,
Round the circuit of the unknown world
And into the great mystery that lies ahead,
A little frog
Floating downstream
On the surface
Of a giant leaf.
W.A CHOLT. Copyright Fergal O Reilly. 2021
26/2/22
I remember the Man from Atlantis from forty years ago
I watched his show when I was a kid
The man with webbed hands and feet swimming underwater
He was cool in his aquatic world
But I've an improvement
The Man from Atlantis needs a keel for better buoyancy
Just like a submarine
Increasing his amphibious abilities
Where he can effortlessly rise and fall
He needs a big fourteen inch nose
When it’s hard he rises
And when flaccid he falls
Other than aiding his nautical escapades the mermaids will love it
That’s if he can find out there to put it!
Other than sucking it off and doing a bit wank
And what of raunchy sex with fish?
Don’t go there coz it’s illegal
At least on land
Underwater, who cares if the Man from Atlantis is a fish fecker?
Who’s gonna stop him?
But he fecks many Red Commie CCCP corrupt turtles
They still don’t know who their daddy is
And thus are all still barstewards
There you have it
An improved the Man from Atlantis with his big black nose
Saving the world and pleasuring women and mermaids
Coming to a cinema near you soon
Yogi once said, “he hits from both sides of the plate
He’s amphibious!” that's true genius, no debate
Many great quotes
Came out of his throat
“so I’m ugly, I never saw anyone hit with his face”
Mercurial, mischievous minx
Amphibious air swirling in turquoise tang
Ribald thief of restrained relief
Capricious caress in cobalt clouds
Hale blown heather tickles the daffodils' flaxen dress.
3/01/19
Yogi once said, “he hits from both sides of the plate
he’s amphibious!” that's a true genius, no debate
Many great quotes
Came out of his throat
“so I’m ugly, I never saw anyone hit with his face”
While resting my soul
on the banks of a lush pond teeming with life,
I saw the spiritual superimposed on nature divine
My soul was lifted to an elevated state of mind
Upon hearing the buzzing of a bee,
this thought entered my heart and stung me:
Frogs love flies,
and flies love dung
I know the foul flickering
of an amphibious tongue
As a putrid smell of the ointment
is caused by dead flies
So is the bed of truth corrupted
by a soiled sheet of lies
Evildoers will get froggy on you,
if you give them a righteous rebuke
Hate will come croaking from their throats,
unclean words
that should never be uttered or heard
Amphibian desires of voracious liars,
possessing reptilian appetites
Snakes love mice,
and mice love moldy cheese
Those poisonous lies paralyze
the mice hearts of men, who beggarly plead
Pierced by an amphibious tongue flickering ...
savoring every darting lie, after lie, after lie
And I grieved in my spirit,
when I saw how some life in the pond died
I never thought this is a tale
I could ever tell
My heart was tossed and turned,
Printed on cards
Some played with it,
My feelings pawns
On a chess board
Till you, my sailor
Said all aboard
Sway, sway
Through icebergs
Till we reached
Where we never thought
We could reach
The beach
You took off your sailor’s hat
Ready to hike
I guess we are amphibious like that
Preposterous hippopotamus laughs at scandalous rhinoceros.
Precipitous, calamitous cumulus leaks rain on head.
Furious, igneous volcanoes spurt copious lava, aqueous and amphibious into sea.
But despite the acrimonious albuminous setting,
anxious, ignominious and siliceous bed fellows, make amorous love anyway
wearing polymorphous, ponderous and porous pajamas in bed,
and enjoy anomalous couscous made by anonymous, ambidextrous, audacious, cantankerous cook.
it's been quite
quiet
on Eilean Mòr
but I paid my tribute to amphibious armies
buried the critter with a roadkill requiem
watched through the eye of a needle
how the bomb-cratered garden glows after dusk
how Magda Goebbels mix tears with cyanide
in joy in glory
slowly walks the night
and I speak no words in this debate
I've been quite quiet since this charade
quite quiet after the grey parade
but
SCREAMING
through this daydream masquerade!
Standing Watered Ground
Silence Within My Sound "Sentinel"
In the midst of oceanic chaos and madness
The shores cornerstone anchors in pain
Elemental forces assaulting in frigorific air
An amphibious blitzkrieg, a coup de main
Proud, stoic tower of light standing strong
Within the core of this cyclonic devastation
Whipping winded white water warrior waves
Surrounded lone structure of land starvation
Tidal waves of torment fill watered down walls
Gasping for air these breathing blocks may drown
Anxious skies await to bleach newly broken blocks
However this man made structure stands its ground
04/06/2016
Wide the mirrored water stretched,
licking green upon the pointed pines, limbs sweeping low and cool.
The creek meandered, soft giggles escaping mossy rocks
where polliwogs swam, nearly, but not quite frogs, still sporting pubescent tails;
the adults pontificating against the shallow bank,
throats swollen with amphibious wisdom.
Soft brown mud squished, a buttered cream,
between summer toasted toes wading into wonder.
Fragrant evening campfires heightened hungers,
supper roasting over charred coals flavored
the stirrings of a tempting crush on a boy much older;
this girl just barely navigating puberty's powerful push,
his smile extracting heightened pulse, blush brushed.
Life's long summer slipped slowly away
and autumn found his wife and child laying him down,
the plot unknown, unmarked by me;
yet, painful, still, the memory of broken trust,
of love-crust pitched to a not quite woman
deep in the rusting woods of Timberland.
Copyright, February 14, 2016
Wet August
Umbrella mushrooms;
Bumper harvest
~~~~~~~~~
Cultured frog pond
Fresh amphibious meat;
Gourmet lifestyle
~~~~~~~~~
Chinese seventh month
Hungry ghosts loiter;
Earth-bound vacation
~~~~~~~~~
Chinese customs
Before life, this life,
Afterlife connections
~~~~~~~~~
House by the woods
Solitary presence:
No one comes
~~~~~~~~~
No seasonings
Premium instant noodles;
No time to eat
~~~~~~~~~
Ascendant moon
Brilliant night sky;
Nightingale's lullaby
~~~~~~~~~
Tree house
Island getaway;
New horizons hurl
~~~~~~~~~
Mid-autumn lanterns
Procession of kids;
Misty moon floats
~~~~~~~~~
Faraway glimpses
Brand new stadium dome;
Sporty revelations
~~~~~~~~~
Leon Enriquez
26 August 2014
Singapore
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