THE HORSE OF THE RIVER

The Hippopotamus

Could eat a lot of us

Especially if we

Were cabbage or lettuce.

The Hippopotamus

Although very big and round

Runs very fast on the ground

But can run much, much faster

When there's water around!

THE THORNY PIG

The Porcupine

Is not Soft Like

A Purring Feline

Nor Smooth and Shiny

Like a Brand-new Dime.

A Porcupine's Quill

Will Puncture the Thrill

Of Someone Who Wants to Feel

Its Sharp and Thorny Body.

The Best Time to See a Porcupine

Is When its Body is Quite Supine.

THE SKUNK IN TWO PARTS

I.

An Animal

With a Whole Lot

Of Funk

Is

The Skunk.

II.

On a Carousel

Or in the Darkness

A Skunk Will Still Smell.

THE HOLY SHOW OF AN ELEPHANT (IN TWO PARTS)

I.

The giant elephant

Is a gray hierophant

Who cools all his fears

With island-sized ears.

 

 

II.

At a

Banquet

Or a

Feast

The giant

Elephant's

A

Mighty

Beast.

African, as well as Asiatic males will engage in same-sex bonding and mounting. Such encounters are often associated with affectionate interactions such as kissing, trunk intertwining or placing trunks in each other's mouth. The encounters are analogous to heterosexual bouts, one male often extending his trunk along the other's back and pushing forward with his tusks to signify his intention to mount. Unlike heterosexual relations, which are always of a fleeting nature, often males will form a "companionship" consisting of an older individual and one or two younger attendant males. Same sex relations are common and frequent in both sexes, with Asiatic elephants in captivity devoting roughly 45% of sexual encounters to same-sex activity.

THE MOSQUITO AND THE FLY

It is not the
Fly
that I decry
As much as I do the
Mosquito.
The Fly has
its mighty eye
&
The Mosquito has its
sharpened drill---
but both of them
I will kill---
for a mistress or a wife!

ODE ON THE REFRIGERATOR

O
Holy
Refrigerator!

Keeper & Preserver
of
meat
eggs
dairy
fruits
&
vegetables!

O
cold repository
for
our daily
victuals!

The abode
of
our
existence
dwells
inside
of
you!

O
Holy
Refrigerator!

GIRAFFA CAMELOPARDALIS

The tall giraffe

makes me laugh

with

his very

long legs

and

very long

neck

which must bend

so low to

get a drink.

The giraffe’s

neck

is so long

that food takes

an eon or so

to get down

to the ground.

(I wonder why the

heck!)

But I do know

why

the giraffe grows

high

as the

sky.

It's because

Of all those trees

That he must reach.

WRITTEN WHILE READING THE COLLECTED POEMS 1948-1984 BY DEREK WALCOTT

memory sweeps
time & place
from the floor of
the
mind

FEVER

When I was a feverish young boy
on a bed

I dreamt I was writing inside
of my head.

The words swirled &
spread

like I was going to be
dead.

As my temperature
rose

So did the wondrous
prose.

It felt like I was writing
a good book

As my sick and hot body
shook & shook.

As soon as my fever went
away

I went outside and began
to play.

ROCKY STREAM HAIKU

rocky dreams and streams
gurgle past clean white houses
merrily merry

WATERY ABODE HAIKU

Watery Abode
The Amen of Calm Waters
Song of Calm Waters

The Equiangular Spiral

The Chambered Nautilus

Is not a bit like us

He doesn't make war

Or sleep on the floor

He doesn't take walks

Or use any clocks

He doesn't use a phone

Or masticate a bone

He doesn't pay taxes

Or send any faxes.

The Chambered Nautilus

Is a mollusk

That's quite deluxe---

But the Chambered Nautilus

Is not a bit like us!