Adge

Old Adge grimaced as she pulled her boots on
Jagged toenails corns and bone spurs
Each taking their turn down the rough leather tunnel to the sole
Before being planted firmly upon the ground at last
With the tightness of the fit masking some of the pain
Allowing old Granny Adge to walk about again

Meat Dreams

The refrigerator was empty
Which is said in the most first world kind of way
Since there is still half a gallon of milk
Some butter and jam
Along with two tins of leftovers

For my effective purposes it was empty
As nothing there appealed to me at this late hour

The bank account was just as empty
Which means of course that it was not
Just simply not enough for me to be happy
As if there were a set number that could make that so

And so I slept
Because sleep keeps the evils at bay
Making most problems go far away

In my dreams I found a forgotten room
Which held a cupboard full of snacks
All of my favorite kinds were there
Full of crunchy nutty crispy chocolaty creamy goodness

Right next to that cupboard was a refrigerator
Full of bulk quantities of meat
Huge tubs of butter
Jams and jellies of many kinds

Enough food to last for months

That's when I awoke and realized my plight
By falling asleep with not enough food or money on my mind
I'd managed to achieve something I'd avoided my whole life

The fact that I had never really felt poor until that night

Pissed

The checkered pattern on the sectional sofa was six inches from my face
Consisting of a tight silky fiber
Where one block had the threads going North - South
And the next had them going East-West
Alternating to infinity

Or at least as far the couch went

My fingers rubbed on that softly alternating pattern obsessively
With my brain barely registering that it was happening
Up and down
Silky to rough
Rough to silky

This floor sure was dirty
Meaning that it was definitely a 5/5 type of clean
Which means the same thing as describing a car to be in 20/20 condition
As when it goes by at 20 mph and as seen from 20 feet away
It looks fabulous

This floor looked clean to me last night
But then I was seeing it from 5 foot tall eyeballs
And usually travelling at 5 mph

I shouldn't have had that last long island iced tea
Or the one before that
Or before that.....
I really don't know how far back that sequence goes

My head pounded
Squeezing my eyeballs in rhythm with the pounding
Pretty much a sympathetic vibration

I called out with slurred words
"Legs!
Get up!
I have to pee!"

But the legs would have none of that
At least not yet

So I laid there on the linoleum floor
With one eyeball level with the gap under the couch
Staring through the accumulated crumbs and dust bunnies
A stray red twist tie from long forgotten bread

Past all of that
At the brown baseboard behind the couch
A small grey mouse sat stock still
Small eyes catching the light just so
Glowing like little reflectors on the side of the road

With whiskers twitching slightly
He watched me silently

As I pissed myself

Negative Imprint

Hand held to the light
Is a wonder to behold
The skin's wrinkles and pores
Patterns of veins and hinted at bones

And it needed to be purple
At least the backside of it did
As that was the style
All my friends were doing it

The palm must be left clean
Or at least as clean as it can be
As a counterpoint to the purple
A two toned extremitis

My worn teeth chewed the blackberries
Grinding the seeds and skin to pulp
Mixing with my spit
Making a dark purple confection in the mouth

Making sure my parents weren't looking
I placed my palm hard against the cave wall
And blew the contents of my mouth over and around
Aerosoling in royal technicolor

Long before Aerosol and technicolor were a thing

Drawing my animal skin tighter around myself with one dry hand
I made may way out of the cave to the fire
Joining all my friends
Leaving behind the negative image of my hand
About five feet up on the rock wall amlost lost amongst many others

Nothing profound
Just the pursuit of the latest fad
The neon shoe laces and half shaved heads of my time

Chasing Tail

I'm chasing your long tail
A red and black striped furry rope
Always just out of reach

Just when I think I can grab ahold
I stretch just a bit
And you pull your tail in just enough

Weaving in and out of trees
Blind outcroppings
Roots sticking out whacking me in the knees

It seems as if I've been chasing you forever
Or at least for half an hour
So it's time for something clever

Paws into pocket to retrieve my long grabber
Three feet long with mechanical fingers
Soon to be an improvised striped tail nabber

With a final burst of speed
And a reach with the extension
When I felt upon my own tail all kinds of squeezing and tension

All this time I thought it was you
When I was running myself ragged
Chasing after myself

The Cheesemaker, The Cheesemonger, & The Great Sphere of Cheese

The Cheesemonger worked closely with the Cheesemaker
Starting one month before the arrival of the National Cheese Tour
Bringing together milk from the finest cows
With a secret family mesophilic starter culture

Both Cheesemen watching for it all to coagulate
Impatiently peering at the vats in the rear of the cheese vault
Checking in twice every day both early and late
Until it was time to cut up the curds and add the salt

Scooping them into the cheese press
To remove the water from the mess
Solidifying the mass slowly
Under a ton of pressure more or less

Now rolled into a spherical shape
All held together with wraps of sterile linen tape
Left to cure and ripen upon the round bottom mold
Awaiting the day it turns two weeks old

On that day the Cheesemonger loaded it up with oversize spoons
Till it rode high in his silver wheel barrow
Rolling carefully across the grassy sandy dunes
Wind stirring his black apron and mussing his thick grey hair

Momentarily distracted by his thoughts of winning a blue ribbon
With his wonderful spherical cheese monstrosity
The Cheesemonger tripped upon a small stump
Sending the wheelbarrow tumbling at a high velocity

The round cheese flew up and out
Arcing across the evening sky
Until it reached the top of its flight
And hung there for no particular reason why

Where it stays even today
Reflecting the sun upon us in the night
Right off its cheesy man-in-the-moon face
Safely guiding the Cheesemonger's future journeys with silvery light

Just a Brain In A Jar

Trapped inside of a crunchy candy shell
The brain tries to interpret what it's remote sensors send back to it
Images sights sounds and feels

Are all these other creatures actually alive?
Do they think and feel just as I do?
These sociopathic thoughts cross the mind
Floating inside of it's dark liquid filled vat

Empathy was introduced early on
But it's one of those things that gets forgotten sometimes
Just like brushing your teeth
Or wearing underwear

In a hurry
No time
Very late for that important date
White Rabbiting away at common courtesy

Sure this could all be a Matrix situation
Nothing more than a simulation
Probably within yet another simulation
All a picture within a picture peered at to infinity

In the end it can only be taken at face value
Light is light and dark is dark
Heat is warm and cool is cold
Deciding if it is worth a mind's time
To dance the dance
Chase that spark