Poems, stories, and scraps — both new and old. [☆ = best stuff] [CLASSIC = written long ago]
Part of my planned Alice-like narrative connecting my longer poems. I call this category ‘THE Story’.
This riddle was written with help from my brother Rick for playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends in college. Being full of imagination, I was of course the dungeon master when we played at school. Feel free to enter your answers as comments.
Riddle A
You never want it in a pot
It’s only there when it is not
It changes name when it gets wet
The more you add, the less you get
Though unfinished, this is part of my big Alice-like narrative which I’ve mentioned that ties together my longer poems. Prior to my sabbatical, this is one of the few things that I’ve written within the past few years. I may need a new category to tag these items — ‘almost new’ or ‘classic plus’ doesn’t quite cut it.
The children from the town have come to play around the farm.
These kids are always trouble so I’m sounding the alarm.
Half the kids are astronauts, half the kids are clowns.
Half the kids are standing up and half are falling down.
The animals have gone to hide, the birds have flown away.
The donkey and the billie-goats are hiding in the hay.
Half the kids eat ham and cheese, half the kids eat cake.
Half the kids are on the shore and half are in the lake.
No good children’s story is complete without involving the reader to solve some problem for the protagonist. One vehicle to accomplish this is to include riddles which, through whatever contrivance, need to be answered for the protagonist to succeed. Here’s a riddle that I was planning to include in the story I mentioned a few days ago that would weave together several of my longer poems into something akin to Alice in Wonderland. Feel free to submit your answers as comments.
That which is, and which reveals.
Closed to the world, though open to a few.
Drawn and shaded, but clearly there.
Look out!
Here’s another of my fully-baked longer poems that I’ve refined over the years. A bit dark, but it has a good structure.
I get these sudden urges.
(urges, urges, urges, urges)
To go howling at the moon.
(at the moon, at the moon)
This tendency emerges.
(merges, merges, merges, merges)
Feel it comin’ very soon.
(very soon, very soon)
My body structure changes.
(changes, changes, changes, changes)
Bushy hair sprouts from my face.
(from my face, from my face)
My whole being rearranges.
(ranges, ranges, ranges, ranges)
My teeth, deadly fangs replace
(fangs replace, fangs replace)
I gobble up small children.
(children, children, children, children)
Leave adults a bloody mess.
(bloody mess, bloody mess)
My habits are bewild’rin’.
(wildrin, wildrin, wildrin, wildrin)
My actions they can’t guess.
(they can’t guess, they can’t guess)
I live as one of you do.
(you do, you do, you do, you do)
‘Til the full moon starts to rise.
(starts to rise, starts to rise)
Then I venture forth to get you.
(hunt you, find you, rend you, kill you)
I may take you by surprise.
(by surprise, by surprise)
Time to break out one of my full-blown, longer poems. I’ve labeled it ‘classic plus’ because, though I originally wrote it years ago, I’ve ‘stayed in touch’ with it over the years, occasionally rewriting/refining the wording to improve it. My goal has been to take a dozen or so of my complete, longer poems and connect them with a coherent narrative — with the result being something structured like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass. I suspect that Lewis Carroll may have followed a similar path — taking a set of poems he had written, extracting the characters, and creating a story around them which allowed the poems themselves to be included.
As the Joker said, “and…here…we…go”
The Preacher comes to visit us
A dozen times a week.
He comes so bless-ed often,
And Lordy does he speak!
At night or noon or morning
You’ll likely find him there;
Screaming out his warning
Astride the Preacher’s Chair.
The Preacher’s Chair is empty
When the Preacher ain’t around.
Grandpa used to sit there
‘Fore the Preacher came to town.
But the Preacher’s got the recipe
For emptying that seat –
Don’t tell the Preacher ‘bout your sins,
He knows when to repeat!
The Preacher talks to Jimmy –
How he lectures to that lad!
Tells him that he’ll go to Blazes
‘Cause he’s been so bad.
But Mama thinks that Jimmy,
He’s been good beyond compare.
And someday when the Preacher’s gone
He’ll fill the Preacher’s Chair.
The Preacher’s Chair is gone now,
But it’ll soon be back.
The Preacher still comes all the time,
And Lordy does he yack!
Now when the Preacher needs to sit,
He can do it anywhere.
‘Cause Jimmy spread a pot of glue
Upon the Preacher’s Chair!
Tweedledum and Tweedledee are characters from Lewis Carroll’s Alice books. Note that Damascus is not a seaport, which only adds to the lunacy.
Old poem, recently finished.
What got the writing of this poem going was the subtle alliterative wordplay in the first few lines.
“Not the mad, nor the damned,
“Nor the damned mad
“Will carry M’dam to Damascus.
“As for us,” said we,
“For a minimal fee,
“We’ll ferry you there if you ask us.”
She looked on with doubt
As our ears flapped about
And our smiles slowly broadened to grins
“I do need the ride,”
She saw fit to confide,
“But I hear there is danger in twins.”
“Do not fear, do not fret.
“You won’t even get wet.
“As our boat is surprisingly sound.
“It was made from a pail
“With swiss cheese for a sail.
“Only half of our crewmen have drowned.”
We set off at noon
By the light of the moon
Hoping to get there by dawn
We were in a hurry
Which caused her some worry
But we lessened her stress with a yawn
Halfway to our goal
We encountered a hole
On the top of the head of a whale
It was pulling us in
Be we saved with a spin
And continued our path without fail
The ocean was rough
Which made sailing quite tough
Though the boat mostly progressed as planned
It took us a while
But we maintained a smile
And eventually made it to land
She paid us our fare
As she flipped back her hair
And we carried her luggage ashore
We waved her goodbye
With a wink in our eye
And moved on to collect even more