The Water Moccasin Cycle
and other poems

by Chris McCaleb

 

Reembowelled

One word you don't hear much:
Reembowelled
It has to be out there
Because we have its opposite

Maybe they don't say it
because it's so hard to do
But I don't think they've really tried


Cary Grant Runs for His Life

As I watch Cary Grant run through the cornfield
I have to laugh
Does he think he's going to get away?
Doesn't he know
That plane trying to run him down
Like a frustrated car
represents Mr. Insurance Man?
And you can't get away from the Insurance Man, Mr. Grant
Not in the state of Illinois.
Poor Cary


Rethinking "Cary Grant Runs for His Life"

Maybe the plane was the cable bill


Stuck With Susie

I try to pay the lady in the booth
She says - go over to that automated turnstile, so I won't get stuck with Susie
It's hard travelling with Susan B. Anthony
Always going on and on about feminism
Finally I'm rid of her
She's lodged in a Coke Machine - I forgot and thought she was a quarter


Having Dropped the Tack I Was Saving

Having dropped the tack I was saving
 Now the note will have to be dealt with immediately
I cannot fix it to my board
 to deal with at some unspecified future time

I could make some joke about taking a different tack
 but I am more concerned with the one I dropped
I fear it will come back to haunt me later

 on a seat
 in a file
 at the bottom of a jar of pencils 
 dammit


The Scoliote in Denial

It is I, the Scoliote!
I have made it to work and am not crippled!

So goes the wounded cry of the scoliote in denial
I AM NOT CRIPPLED, says the scoliote
Yet we all know the truth


 - The Water Moccasin Cycle -

The Two Scariest Words

Two Words:
Water Moccasin.
Do I need to say any more?


Revisiting the Water Moccasin

You may say that the taunted lion
or the cornered wildebeest
or the roaming great white
or the hungry hammerhead
or the giant grizzly
is the deadliest

But none of those things almost touched my foot
that time I was floating in the creek on an inner tube.


Again With The Water Moccasins
or
Separating The Two Scariest Words

Even having water and moccasin
on one line
is too much

They make the other words nervous

If only they were separated -
one talking about a safe, comfortable shoe,
the other about a refreshing drink