The Krebly [Classic] (230 word story)

Second silly story alert, this one perhaps written when I was a little older. More old stories here.


One day, the Krebly decided to leave its home in a dark cave near the marshes and venture out into the world. It packed up all of its belongings and put them in its pockets (it had very few belongings and very large pockets) and set off on the road to adventure. The Krebly had only been walking a very short time when it chanced upon a beaver constructing a dam.

“Whatever are you doing?” asked the Krebly, eyes looking every which way (it had many, many eyes).

“Building a dam.” replied the beaver without looking up from its work.

“Whyever are you doing that?” inquired the Kreby with genuine interest.

“I–I don’t know,” the beaver said hesitantly. The beaver appeared thoughtful for a moment, shrugged its shoulders, smiled apologetically and said, “Well then, I guess I’ll be going.” and go it did, leaving the dam half finished and the Krebly looking confused.

The Krebly decided to return home and, along the way, found the beaver lying dead — its face very blue and its tiny hands clutching its chest.

“Well, well,” said the Krebly because it couldn’t think of anything better to say, but felt that something should be said. It then returned to its cave and, to this day, has not left again.

MORAL: Stay away from Kreblies. They are carriers of many lethal communicable diseases.

Paranoia [Classic] (400 word story)

I’ve stumbled across a couple of very silly stories from when I was young.


“…and then when I look around, I don’t see anyone looking at me! Doc, I can’t take this anymore.” Beads of sweat glistened on Walter Dott’s forehead as he spilled forth his recently-unbearable troubles. “It’s just like that paranoia that you read about. I can’t shake the feeling that I’m being followed and watched. It’s driving me mad.”

“Calm down Mr. Dott. Your problem is shared by thousands of other people across the country. There is some controversy though as to how it should be treated. Each psychiatrist has his own notions, but I believe that you will find my methods most painless and helpful. Through hypnotic suggestion, you will believe that you’ve confronted your pursuer and found him harmless and eventually nonexistent. Now here we go — you are relaxed, your limbs are growing heavy, your eyes are closing, closing,…”


Doctor Bergen wasn’t a doctor. In fact, he wasn’t even human, but a dying man’s delusion — as were all of Walter Dott’s surroundings. For in reality, he was on far planet, in a meat freezer, his mind slowly dwindling away into nothingness as his naked body was gradually being frozen to flavor perfection.

The Dott family had lived on a secluded island in the South Pacific and, one by one, they had been snatched by carnivorous Antarians and whisked away to their distant world to serve as exotic food for the ruler of the planet.

During this freezing process, the victim senses external stimuli in a limited way and weaves these into the inevitable hallucinations that a dying brain will conjure up.

The royal Antarian cooks had been having some difficulty in having the meat ready at the proper time. Either the flesh did not keep, eventually rotting away and making a horrible smell, or the meat was too frozen, or too tough from weeks of frightened struggles in efforts to avoid the cooking pot. Finally, the cooks had thought of this slow freezing process with the human still alive. This seemed to work — though there was a greater chance of a premature turning of the meat at unexpected death than there was of overfreezing. But experience had taught the cooks that constant surveillance was necessary during the entire process. There was reason behind Walter’s madness. The cooks had discovered that:

A watched Dott never spoils.

Splice of the Manic-Depressive [Classic] (20 line poem)

Mania
I love the world
The sky so blue above my head
The colors of the splendrous dawn
To live is fun
I’m happy as a man can be

Depression
The world is dead
My life’s a mess, I can’t go on
I want to die
I think I’ll go and get a gun
To take my life away from me

Splice of the Manic-Depressive
I love the world
The world is dead
The sky so blue above my head

My life’s a mess, I can’t go on
The colors of the splendrous dawn

I want to die
To live is fun
I think I’ll go and get a gun

I’m happy as a man can be
To take my life away from me

Influences

I wouldn’t say that I have ‘influences’ — people with work that has shaped my own. I’d like to think I’m fairly original. However, I do have authors and poets that I admire, whose work I wouldn’t mind having written.

Some of them are: Lewis Carroll [Dodgson] (whom I’ve mentioned here multiple times), Edward Lear (whom you might know from The Owl and The Pussycat), and Dr Seuss [Geisel]. No surprises for these, since they are all in a similar direction. I especially admire Dr Seuss’s commercial success. Another author that I admire is Stephen King (who doesn’t?) because he writes ‘dark’ fiction like some of mine. I don’t know Stephen King, but I wonder what he’s like in real life. Is he normal but just writes insane, or is he unsettling to hang out with?

A more-contemporary poet that I feel a kinship with, although I’ll admit I’m pretty unfamiliar with his work, is Shel Silverstein. (I just now googled him and found that he’s been dead for 15 years.) He wrote some kooky poems that would feel at home among some of my stuff. I don’t know whether he wrote books or just poetry. Also, some of his work has distinct artwork — maybe he was also an artist? (Seems I should find out more about him.) What little I’ve read of his work seems nice and even inspirational. I chuckle inwardly because I think of myself as a ‘dark’ Shel Silverstein (in writing tone), but he had dark skin, so the wording of this view of myself makes me laugh. He looks a lot like a guy I currently work with who’s from Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.


ADDENDUM: Going through some of my old old stories, written as a teen, I’ve realized that Fredric Brown also figures into the mix. Some of my early stories are short, techy, and ‘clever’ like some of his.

No Longer Are You Mine [Classic] (12 line poem)

This is an odd poem in that the second verse has a different pattern from the first verse — each corresponding line is twice as long.

You can tell I wrote this in another part of the country, since my chosen tree is ‘maple’ rather than, say, ‘redwood’.


If snakes had wings
If dogs could sing
Should laughter ring the hallowed halls
If boulders sail
And maples wail
Only then would my love pall

They say there’re dragons. Without a choice
The moon can make the hound give voice
And mirth is not a stranger to the holiest of shrines
Volcanoes spew forth rock and stone
A strong wind makes the forest moan
Another one has won my heart, no longer are you mine

The Magician [Classic] (unfinished poem)

Though unfinished, this poem tells a story of a boy coming of age. I’ve yet to decide whether he ends up accepting the role of royal heir, or whether his father ends up accepting that the boy has another path. It would be interesting if the boy grows up to be the titled magician who, late in life, goes back in time to help shape his own destiny…

Some of the phrasing is a little awkward. Unlike some of my other poems, I haven’t worked with it over the years to polish the wording — probably because the poem is unfinished. 

I don’t plan for this poem to be part of my big Alice-like narrative. 


Gossip spread throughout the land
By word of mouth the news had come
His services became demand
And as a fire loyally fanned
His fame had managed to expand
Encompassing the vast kingdom

He moved about the outlying farms
A few days here, a couple there
By potions, spells, and magic charms
He did his best for future harms
(He cured a couple gammied arms
And aided with a foaling mare)

When rumor finally reached the king
His advisor told him what to do
“Attempt to make an offering
The proper bit of persuading
And he might cure your mad bantling
Who, of your heir, he is in lieu”

The king knew this be wise indeed
His bastard son was all he had
And should there e’er arise the need
If no more heirs sprang from his seed
He would publicly announce the deed
If he had agreement from the lad

The trouble with the boy was that
He did not want to be a prince
Upon the finer things he spat
At royal balls, he was a brat
He did not relish growing fat
And at etiquette he’d wince

He had in mind to be a knight
To travel to a distant shore
Or even wield a mages light
Or practice with his magic sight
Or learning how to read and write
As over books he’d pore

Death of a Student [Classic] (48 line poem)

This is perhaps the most ‘Alice like’ of my longer poems that I plan to include in my Alice-like narrative that connects my longer poems. As I’ve mentioned, the characters in the poems would become characters in the connecting story, with the Student from this poem being the main protagonist in the larger story, and the Teacher from this poem being the main antagonist.

In my mind, this takes place in an old schoolhouse full of boys — before girls were part of mainstream education. To make it more modern and approachable, I probably need to have some of the students be girls — even quite likely the main protagonist — which may require some wording tweaks to the poem.

NEW NOTE: My son recently used AI to movie-ize this poem. Link here: http://tomlewczyk.me/DOS.mov.


“Three times three,” the Teacher said;
“Plus three times three,” He cried!
“Makes six times three,” a Student said;
And with those words, He died.

“Correct,” was all the Teacher said,
And looking rather glum,
He wondered how the answer could
Have come to One so dumb.

The teacher searched His memory —
“Six apples minus three,
“Plus four more apples added next,
“How many will there be?”

“Seven, Sir,” a small Voice said,
But Most stared in dismay
At First Boy slumped down in His chair
As Second passed away.

“Again correct,” the Teacher sighed;
Another question spew
As steady rage within Him built —
“What’s thirty minus two?”

Reluctant Students squirmed in shame;
All feared this certain death.
But Someone stammered “Twenty eight,”
And breathed His final breath.

By now, the Teacher’s face was red;
He spat a muffled curse;
He thought of answers and of deaths,
Not knowing which were worse.

But then the Teacher saw the truth
Though not the How nor Why —
That All who answered what He asked
Were instantly to die.

He brought forth question after next,
‘Til finally, He tired.
That left Him there with only One;
The Others had expired.

“I’m God!” He thought, “I rule the world!”
He eyed the single Child.
He leered, He sneered, He showed His teeth.
The Other only smiled.

He delved into His inner mind,
To find His very best,
To finish-off this Hanger-on,
To put Him to the test.

The Teacher shuffled, sorted, thought,
At last came up with one.
“Am I sure?” He asked Himself…
“Indeed,” and He was done.


2021 comments:

  • I’ve reverted some wording back to how it was originally written. Slight changes, but I’m prioritizing the ‘flow’ more than the exact words.
  • Reading this over now, I’m thinking that MAYBE the poem needs another stanza near the end. It might wrap up too quickly, given the relatively long and wordy progression toward the final conflict.

Deep [Classic] (unfinished poem)

I remember writing this. My intention was to present nonsense phrases in a serious manner so that it sounded like some deep poem. It’s easy to write verse after verse when there’s no underlying meaning (relax, I didn’t write verse after verse). I like the rhyming scheme and may someday steal it for something else.

I’ve realized that this poem (8-8-10-8-8-10), intentionally or not, has a similar structure to Billy Joel’s You May be Right (8-8-11-7-7-11) — which has been playing in my head all morning. What kicked off the mental music was me ending a line with ‘alone’ which matches how a line ends in Billy Joel’s song.


The wind the weeping willow bent
Softly, ever reverent
To lie between the earth and endless sky
Alas, the truth be never known
To wander wondering, alone
Skin deep! the cry is raised as by the by

The struggle mightily is lost
A leaf, a storm, a ship is tossed
The crow is spared the scorpion’s last sting
As one we never more shall be
Naked for eternity
The jester hastens lest he best the king

Tremulous, with head held high
The soldier bids his kids goodbye
And barren fields may one year put forth grain
Alive but living in a dream
The silence shredded by a scream
A yearling elk seeks shelter from the rain