Note: Poem sung using the melody from Stephen Sondheim's Send in the Clowns.
isn’t it perfect
the moment the scales slip off
right when the spotlight hits.
are we a duo
me on the ground pretending calm
you mid-air, mid-morph, mid-blink.
send in the reptiles
the ones with the tailored suits,
the ones who rehearse their humanity
and have suspiciously cool hands.
isn’t it lovely
how they glide through chaos
like actors missing half their cues.
one keeps pacing in circles
one freezes like a statue
both insisting they’re totally human.
send in the reptiles
oh right~
they’re already here
adjusting their holograms
and sipping lukewarm tea.
don’t you love farce
the cosmic variety
where the joke sheds a reptilian tail.
I thought you’d stay hidden
sorry, my dear
you never do.
so send in the reptiles
quick, send in the reptiles
don’t bother~
they’re already here .
Living close by the Coryndon Museum
(Nairobi National Museum, ca. 1960)
on Forest Road, Museum Hill,
(where The Queen Mother, she once waved to me)
entrance for kids was free
how well I remember it still.
There I met Mary Leakey
and where Louis Leakey
(unpaid curator)
requested reptiles of me as a lark
and they were soon to be
(ca. 1961)
denizens of the Nairobi Snake Park.
I stalked colourful chameleons,
several species even walked our washing line,
but that's not all
I collected and contributed anything and everything
that hopped, skipped, jumped or crawled.
When he sees
That cameleon stops
to change colour,
tell him to check it proper
may be his sight
is not right.
When she sees a cobra
Tell her to make hot porridge
In the calabash and
carry it on her head
She will walk in the jungle
Like an African Queen.
July 03/2023
Trouble, trouble in the mown rye!
Sneaky snakes slither round and by,
silently squeezing through rubble
in the mown rye, trouble, trouble!
Sneaky snakes eat rats in the field,
mice and bugs that damage the yield.
Common problems farmers must beat.
Rats in the field, sneaky snakes eat.
Friendship extends to snakes today.
Sneaky snakes are welcome to stay.
Sneaky snakes are the farmers' friends.
To snakes today, friendship extends.
Give thanks, give thanks to sneaky snakes!
The farmers' friends that up the stakes
keeping deeds away from the banks!
To sneaky snakes give thanks, give thanks!
I said, “I only eat reptiles for breakfast, if you please.”
Excuse me said the waitress, who started to sneeze.
We waited patiently, except Daddy who ordered peas.
Alligator or crocodile? Waitress asked, on her knees.
We thought this was strange. Mom said “Oh, please!”
Daddy was embarrassed. The table felt a chilly breeze.
After she took our order Mommy said, “She is a little tease!”
Daddy rolled his eyes and said, “Give me a break, geez!”
When neighbor fields are plowed, sowed, and irrigated
The reptiles enter our homes feeling accepted
They move around within, as though unobstructed
When neighbor fields are plowed, sowed, and irrigated
They sleep on our beds as though feeling protected
They play with our children mentally connected
When neighbor fields are plowed, sowed, and irrigated
The reptiles enter our homes feeling accepted
We are poor our homes are not costly constructed
Our beds are not cozy and sophisticated
We are nomads and our tents are often shattered
Reptiles do not hurt us as they feel well trusted
When neighbor fields are plowed, sowed, and irrigated
The reptiles enter our homes feeling accepted
16 July 2021
Do lizards have gizzards?
Do wizards have craws?
Are parakeets Paracletes
Exempt from laws?
I need to know how
I kneaded dough now
To disavow middlebrow
Hear the cow bow-a-wow.
On the day
When we encountered,
What did you think of me?
As your predator or prey?
That buzzing sound
you created was to
threaten me or to alert me
that you were coiled on the ground?
When everyone said
you were venomous
and your single bite
would make me dead,
I was the one
who knew that
I was alive then because of you
and without your concern I am none
You made us
realise that you will
never ever disturb anyone
unless we don't mess
You made them
discern the fact
that nature never fails;
You are a gem.
Thanks for not biting me;
Thanks for not failing me;
Thanks for your patience;
Thanks for your concern.
A tribute to the Russel's viper snake that I met within a striking distance while working in my garden. It was so kind and reported its presence by making the hissing sound or else I would be dead by now...
Ten tiny pollywogs
Happy as can be
Along came an alligator
Ate up three.
Seven skittish pollywogs
Beneath a lily pad
Up swam a rainbow trout
They all died sad.
Hey world, you are tired
And I just woke up
I don't walk during day time
due to big shame and fear
Wherever I look, I see black outfit there
According to psychologist,
the world is really black
And this is nothing but your frustration
So you must have sudden intercourses
But there is no companion
And there is neither any sex life
In the life span of a reptile,
there is no visible light
Only black around and black fever
Better than that is this
dampen room in night
Hey world, you sleep now
I just woke up, let me walk out there !
(our own) age of reptiles
I remember
it was mainly in the Cretaceous period
of our own age of reptiles
soon to be doomed
by the great collision
we made plans
and thought about things
and things
and so many nice things to do
but they went extinct too soon
lost and not-to-be found again
some of them, though
are being uncovered
from time to time
by the archaeologists of our back door minds
but the only place for them
is the memory museum
where’s always just dust and silence
as we both secretly know
Paws
like claws
nan-o, nan-o
changing colors
Chameleon
I saw a picture of a chameleon in a magazine and I was a mazed at their feet, it reminded me
of the nan-o nan-o hand shake of Robin Williams in Mork and Mindy. Andrea you were right on.
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