i had a dog named uncle jack
who carried a gorilla on his back
the gorilla’s name was sally green
she lived inside a washing machine
sally had a bird called bob the crow
who always took it nice and slow
bob admired schopenhauer
and quoted his wisdom by the hour
schopenhauer was often depressed
to give his restless mind a rest
i would pick a tune on my ukelele
i had to do this almost daily
arthur smith had a garter snake
a real one - not a fake
the garter snake’s name was colonel fred
he often claimed that he was already dead
colonel fred had a cat named paul
who sat in rocking chair wrapped in a shawl
smoking an endless cigarette
and resented being called a pet
i had a frog named anatole
who was always ready to roll
i took him downtown and wined and dined him
now i don’t know where to find him
i had a friend and his name was blue
he was a dog, and a good one too
he would chase a squirrel up a tree
then turn around and look at me
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2 comments:
The pace of this reading lends to a fast, loose street rag cleaned up for impressionable young listeners to enjoy and not raise granny's ire:
she's slipped out behind the fish house smokin' a joke with me an' chuter ...
she always took a hankerin' to that boy. A gentle disposition for a Swede Hollow kid, and he loved granny, too.
Probably why I always got the blame for our little adventures. True, we lived in the City of Thieves, and, what else could a railroad waif and all those travelers come from the farthest reaches of the Breadbasket of America do for entertainment in a Depression?
I think granny turned a blind eye, only to pick me out so as not to bemoan too confrontational a lesson.
It worked. 'Chuter often came by with a ruck sack full of that green track weed that sprung up from the trains weighty with hemp, sunflower and oil for eastern cities and Atlantic isles. Or so we believed.
Our water way was the Mississippi, and the farthest port north on that meandering route, plied by barges, railways bounding it's intrepid waves, their horns sounding in the night, the clarion call that will always remind me of my home./
Well, least ways, that's how I felt about it. A little giddy, too.
thanks for your interest, and interesting comments!
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