During my vacation in Eden,
My only confidant was a snake with legs—a native.
He talked to me
when no one else would
even though
we were on separate ends of the spectrum
politically.
He, romanticizing about old island socialism.
Me, still believing that the American Dream
can work everywhere.
We argued,
But both could agree
that if this was paradise
little could be said for it
and whatever created us
must’ve made boredom too.
and took pictures of the Zebras and Dolphins
and of the snake
standing stoically beneath unbelievable trees.
And because I asked him
the snake began to climb the tallest one
to pick me a souvenir
a pear
for my mother back in Wisconsin
He was spotted on the way down
by a policeman floating by on a hang glider
Who upon landing
promptly chopped off the snake’s legs
and fed them to the Zebras and Dolphins
and took me to the American Embassy
where I was informed of my deportation.
The pear made it past customs
nestled safely in my toiletry case
to my mother’s kitchen in Wisconsin
where it stayed till it rotted
six thousand years later.
this is great ben
ReplyDeletei second that.
ReplyDeletepolice man on hang glider
ReplyDeleteja mon