There's nothing funnier than a cross-eyed chicken
With legs the size of your arm
The Chicken Emporiums would sure love to know
The name of this progressive farm
Aside from the unnerving cross-eyed feature
The implications are really immense
Imagine a leg on your plate so humongous
You wouldn't know where to commence
The cross-eyed feature might cause some concern
If the patrons viewed this poor old bird
Before it was rendered suitable for consumption
It sure looked hilariously absurd
The cross eyes were caused by trying to eject
A super sized extra large egg
Probably gave the poor brave chicken a hernia
Before passing it, for mercy it begged
Such is the way of us civilized humans
Thinking of our bellies all day
Paying no attention to these cross-eyed chickens
As they dance to the hen house ballet
hhmmmmm
Awakening with heart and mind a-spin,
methought midst some psychotic malady.
"What hellish afterlife am I now in"?
Yon passerby said "2023".
Eyes fixed on "mobile phones" with no regret,
here, plays are viewed at home on a "TV",
events viewed from afar by "internet",
and almost no one reading poetry.
In thund'rous flight, huge metal birds (bizarre!)
at heights and speeds not for the faint at heart.
A carriage (with no horse!) they call a "car",
and huge emporiums they call "Wal-Mart".
One thing unchanged from 1594:
a tyrant's greed still thrusts men into war.
Written 13 Jan 2023
6/27/17
Whether or not I've been awarded several laureates
I'll tell you what the entire story is
Even though it wasn't all that glorious
And I didn't always come out victorious
It somehow became notorious
Even though at times I really didn't care for more of this
Because it was laborious
I listened to the accordions
And continued traveling around scorpions
Before visiting new emporiums
With my own skepticism when it came to historians
Can you believe some still don't know what porridge is?
High into the sky above the forest ridge
Is where I felt comfortable when I orbited
Being fortunate
And able to reorient
There's nothing funnier than a cross-eyed chicken
With legs the size of your arm
The Chicken Emporiums would sure love to know
The name of this progressive farm
Aside from the unnerving cross-eyed feature
The implications are really immense
Imagine a leg on your plate so humongous
You wouldn't know where to commence
The cross-eyed feature might cause some concern
If the patrons viewed this poor old bird
Before it was rendered suitable for your gullet
It sure looked hilariously absurd
The cross eyes were caused by trying to eject
A super sized extra large egg
Probably gave the poor brave bird a hernia
Before passing it, for mercy it begged
Such is the way of us civilized humans
Thinking of our bellies all day
Paying no attention to these cross-eyed chickens
As they dance to the hen house ballet
© Jack Ellison 2015
When moving to a new location
Love to survey the land
Finding the nearest gas emporiums
A Starbucks close at hand
McDonald's which I frequent often
Food stores with all the best deals
Office supplies, lumber yards
Great restaurants for yummy meals
Soon we'll know where everything is
But exploring is half the fun
Discovering stores once far away
Now are just a very short run
It helps to eliminate those illegal u-turns
Which are really hard on the wallet
Soon we'll know where everything is
Reducing our petrol wallop
Moved quite a number of times in life
Find it exciting and fun
You'd think at the age of seventy-eight
My wander lust would all be done
© Jack Ellison 2013
When moving to a new location
Love to survey the land
Finding the nearest gas emporiums
A Starbucks close at hand
McDonald's which I frequent often
Food stores with all the best deals
Office supplies, lumber yards
Great restaurants for yummy meals
Soon we'll know where everything is
But exploring is half the fun
Discovering stores once far away
Now are just a very short run
It helps to eliminate those illegal u-turns
Which are really hard on the wallet
Soon we'll know where everything is
Reducing our petrol wallop
Moved quite a number of times in life
Find it exciting and fun
You'd think at the age of seventy-seven
My wander lust would all be done
© Jack Ellison 2013
The Funeral of Tinapa,
Conference table littered with chicken and cockroach laps
A keg of palm wine descending from Adia Abo
Grabbers haggling on sharing formula
Emporiums rust and rats
Shopping mulls moaning
A banner of hypocrisies at the gate’ welcome to Tinapa’
Uniform of incompetence in the helm of decisions,
Tribal perfectionists nailing Tinapa’s coffin
Frustrated villagers pilfering cables and diesel
Amber at lost
Banks limping
Power supply a shadow of the Nigeria factor
Ponet a sheer seasonal fantasies
Nollywood studio an abode of lizards
At December we fool Nigerians with make belief. …
.AWOH KINGSLEY
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.