The teeny weeny arachnid
crawled up my dingy wall.
Little did he know
this would turn into a brawl.
Then I grabbed a shoe
held it high above my head.
And the teeny weeny arachnid
is now officially dead.
*Nearly two years ago, on April 2, 2021, I decided to try ’30 days of poetry.’ This was day two and the prompt was: Read a nursery rhyme poem and make it your own. I was inspired by “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and decided to change the words to this childhood classic and make it a fractured nursery rhyme.
The bonfires burn, the gypsies sing.
Why are they here near the closed school gates?
Maybe there is a show by the school theatre studio here?
But these dances, this singing!
Swarthy hands in bracelets,
the necklaces and swishing dresses!
The lights burn, the gypsies sing.
Their songs cry and invite you somewhere else.
At night, in the heavenly ocean,
the ancient sailing-ship is floating.
It overtakes our window and takes us aboard,
and we are not at all surprised or frightened.
We have left our moorage – our home.
And Peach, our favorite cat, is with us!
Maybe we will find another shelter?
The gypsies wave their hands to us
and they play magical bells and tambourines.
Our ancient sailing-ship floats between stars.
Somewhere below, on the Earth,
the guitar sings solo!
But in the morning,
the yard-keeper for the school
will sweep away an extinct bonfire
with his broom.
I know you wanna see me in cap-n-gown
A fresh breeze and a new way of life is what I found
So please don’t cry
When you don’t see me in my cap-n-gown
In and out of foster homes
My only comfort was pulling this holster alone
From school to football practice
Academy award winner
my moms was the number one actress
From football practice
to back to those two huge oak trees
A metaphor is simply that cold winters choked my knees
And I know it’s gonna hurt
Seeing “Class of 2005” imprinted on my shirt
Maybe it’s me being selfish
But how could I not tell you without a kiss
Like me expecting to go to war
and forgetting to enlist
High school memories was fun and games
Embarrassment was done in by shame
Senior days are now numbered
Summer smirks ever so humble
Along with my peers
my misery is pumping me up to fumble
Still I know you wanna see me in cap-n-gown
A fresh breeze and new way of life is what I found
So please don’t cry
When you don’t see me in my cap-n-gown