THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYTHING
Logs sink
while metals float.
Dogs meow
while cats bark.
Private signs say “Trespassers
welcome”
while doormats say “Do not enter.”
Worms fly
while birds burrow.
Trees grow underground
while potatoes grow upside down.
And all this is nonsense,
but the opposite is too!
META
I am writing a poem
about a poem
in which the poem
is about a poem!
TONGUE-TIED
I am jumping rope
as if I were the Pope,
flying cartwheels full of hope,
except there’s no way to slope
down the tangled rope,
even when you’re the Pope.
WRITING
Try devouring
a runaway pie
you find irresistible
but don’t know why.
BONE FLUTES
Flutes made of bones
Have very strange tones.
EXISTENTIAL CRISIS
I am going to tell you
a really long story . . .
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
HHHHHHHHHHHH
EEEEEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEEEEE
NNNNNNNNNNN
DDDDDDDDDDD.
MONEY
Money money money
Money money money
Money money money
Why don’t we forget
about buying money
with our own money
and live life instead?
STARS
Stars
upon stars
upon stars
upon stars,
as if the sky had scars.
LONG AND SHORT
A football field is long,
but a bug is short.
A bug is long,
but a cell is short.
A cell is long,
but an atom is short.
An atom is long,
but . . .
HOT CHOCOLATE
Right after a snowstorm,
the valleys are no longer torn,
and a blanket of white is born,
though the blanket is never warm.
FLIES
Zipping here and there with dirty feet,
landing on a birthday cake,
electric swatters and regular swatters,
hands clapping long after the candles
have
gone out.
PARADOX
What if the world was upside down
but while it was upside down
it was also right-side up!
MATERIALISM
Nobody cares about the great
outdoors,
only their own puny properties . . .
a leak in the ceiling,
someone to mow the lawn,
a broken air conditioner . . .
People will pay for these things,
but no one stops to wonder about
species
on the verge of extinction:
Galapagos tortoises,
Leatherback sea turtles,
Giant pandas,
Blue whales,
Asian elephants . . .
Jericho, NY
