Come on over and have some spore soup, she said.
If I ate that stuff, I knew I would be quickly dead.
I had already had surgery on my foot, it was a tumor.
A spore had been the cause of it, that’s no rumor.
I pictured that soup with a dead foot floating around.
It would have blood gushing from it, turning red brown.
I saw the toenails, they were ugly, jagged, and crusty.
I am stepping on a nail tonight, I told her. And it is all rusty.
Can’t you step on the nail some other time? She asked me.
No, and then I have to have a tetanus shot. Sorry, Aunt Bee.
My husband rolled his eyes and told me how awful I was, after that.
But he did not see that sawed off foot floating in the soup vat.
In your mind will remain this spore
In your mind will remain this spore
In your mind will remain this spore
Together we shall soar
In your mind will remain this spore
In your mind will remain this spore
In your mind will remain this spore
From this weeping heart love shall pour
In your mind will remain this spore
In your mind will remain this spore
In your mind will remain this spore
Somehow I am now something to ignore
In your mind will remain this spore
In your mind will remain this spore
In your mind will remain this spore
Now comes the dreaded rebuild of postwar
In your mind will remain this spore
In your mind will remain this spore
In your mind will remain this spore
Once I was a spore
Sought the ovary and was accepted
Millions of my fellow spores
Did not and was washed out as junk
A residue of no value
I won the highest prize without trying
To be given life is luck
Had I lost and not known life it would not
Made any difference for the spore
Not to have seen a sunrise a sunrise over
The Pacific Ocean, a mountain high and
Rabbits in the Woods
Never loved by a woman or the glorious hurt
Of the first one who left
The softness of her skin the colour of her eyes
Yes, I swam in the lake of enchantment
Walked near the waterfall where lovers cry
All this because I was the lucky one, the victor
And so millions had to die
To gain insight about the world around,
I will eat the spores which sprout from the ground.
These fragments of feeling are so fleeting,
Which make up my entire being.
Knowledge or solace will surely be found.
Some new sensation will echo its sound.
In feeding the hunger, I’m all-consumed,
And still picking at my aging wounds.
Joy and agony are momentary creatures,
Details and lines in a portrait’s features.
Without my peripherals, context lost.
Focus turned inward toward abstract thoughts.
I find myself never lacking surprise.
Inspecting the world with blood-shot eyes
Cleared my mind at breakfast
Before I sent me out the door
No time for lolly gagging
The boss will know the score
You cannot make your break last
When you’re running on the shore
If I was to keep on playing
Would you call me a bore
I try to keep my mind so sharp
So that no-one can deplore
Might not find what you will need
If you are searching on the floor
Find things that make you happy
So that you will have some more
Always show that you are happy
This is something you can’t store
I try to do this all the time
Like a mushroom drops a spore
On this day I found my way
I did let out a big roar
Please be happy all your day
Of this I do implore
Take from the rich and give to the poor
Our country expects Robin Hood’s implore
From the top, trickle it down
Thanks from all of us, the clown
Now we must all wait for trickles to spore
For Contest: Economic Woes Limericks
In Honor of: Carolyn Devonshire
Placed #2