Saturday, January 14, 2012

Poems For Your Perusal: "Too Risky"

This is an old "prose poem" (tells a story, doesn't have to rhyme, etc.) that I wrote a few years back. A good way to get a decent post in on the weekends, when I struggle to write anyway. Enjoy!
 
 
"Too Risky"
 
 
You told me not to pick it up
It might be dirty, might have rust on it
Might give me Tetanus
But it looked interesting
So I reached down and retrieved it
It was about the size of a quarter
But it wasn't a coin
It was about the weight of a pocketwatch
But it didn't tell time
It was about the same texture as a cookie
But it didn't taste very good
I wasn't sure what it was
So I stuck it in my pocket
You said I shouldn't have
Said I didn't know where it had been
Might've come off some leper
I might catch Tuberculosis
I shrugged it off
What did you know?
You're just my older brother
A little kid yourself
I wouldn't listen
When we got home
I didn't tell Dad
He's just like you
In too many ways
He would've said
I shouldn't have taken it
Maybe God had it there
For a reason
Maybe it had been there
For hundreds of years
In that very spot
Maybe it had on it
The dust of long-dead civilizations
Maybe it might give me the Black Plague
No, I didn't show it to Dad
Or ever tell him
But Mom, she found it in my pants
When she took them to the wash
And I had forgotten about it
Because when we got in
The soup was ready
And the bread was hot
And Mom, she said
If we didn't eat the food
While it was still warm
Perhaps the ants would come
And they would take the food away
And we would have no food
And then we would get gaunt
And infected and might die
We might even become Anorexic
So I ate the soup and the bread
And drank my milk
Because if you don't drink your milk
Then you don't have strong bones
And you develop a Calcium Deficiency
And then your arms fall off
Least that's what my teacher said
And she's pretty smart about things
So when Mom found
The whatever-it-was in my pants pocket
And asked me about it
I told her it was something
That I picked up by the road
And she said I was a smart boy
For being so curious
But she also warned me
That curiosity has this tendency
To kill cats
And when the cats are dead
And they start to decay and all
If you touch the carcass
You might get Gangrene
So now when I see something
Shiny and metal by the road
I don't pick it up anymore
It's just too risky to fool with.

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