Locale Loca; or, Different Spheres For Different Peers

Goody Goose spiels, "It proved balm for my soul

     once I 

took to my heels to keep house in a hole." 

     "Still," in-

sists her twin sister, "that's no place to dwell.

     Mineshafts, 

mostly, are mouldy...and hollows are hell."

     "Oh, the 

nonsense you natter!" states Goody to Sis.

     "Do I 

ever shun tunnels or give mines a miss...?

     This here  

well where I dwell is humidity free,

     plus, the  

people who live here are nice as can be." 

*   *   *   *   *

Nicholas Knopf has determin'd that he

     will be 

fa-a-a-a-ar better off now he lives in a tree.

     Nicky's 

playfellow Jules gives fair warning to him:

     "You shall 

ne'er replace moi when you're stuck on some limb."

     "Au con-

traire, mon young frère," Nick replies to his friend.

     "D'you sup-

pose I'll wax lonesome here...? Heaven forfend!

     This, my 

tree, don't you see, fills the span of the sky.

    With the 

legions herein I'll make friends by 'n' by."*

     *Here are a few of the friends, tree people all,

       who Nicholas anticipates making friends with:

St. David the Dendrite; 

eco-activist Julia Butterfly Hill; 

Kenya’s Njuguna Ng’ang’a;

purple-hair'd granny Shawnee Chasser;  

Collin Fenwick et al from Capote’s The Grass Harp;  

Cosimo di Rondo from Calvino’s The Baron in the Trees: 

Buile Shuibhne from Seamus Heaney’s take on the

medieval Irish tale he calls Sweeney Astray; 

the Galadrim people from Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings

and Jose Arcadio in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s

One Hundred Years of Solitude...not to mention

Jack of beanstalk fame.  

*   *   *   *   *

Fifi LeFleur, known as "Vertigo Faye"

     (who's a 

daughter by marriage to Ferde Grofé
     and de-

spite the affliction that prompted her name),
     feels a 

life atop pillars will garner her fame:
     "Did not 

Sim'on Stylites, for thirty-odd years, 
     made a 

pedestal home -- to the cheers of his peers...?
     More sty-

lites soon followed -- all welcomed the test.
     Thus the 

'polesters' I'll meet...? 10s! (The best never rest!)" 

*   *   *   *   *

     "Sup-

pose I were chosen Commander-in-chief

     of the 

shed at the head of this barrier reef,"

     fancies 

Perry de Paul, adding, "If so install'd,

     I'd be 

more than fired up; I'd be tot'lly enthrall'd..."

     "You'll be 

soak'd to the foreskin, brined up to the eyes,"

     inter-

jects's Perry's kin, "as all seven seas rise."

     "Fret ye 

not!" notes de Paul. "My appointment's no whim.

     Plus, each 

atoll inhabitant knows how to swim." 

*   *   *   *   *

     What re-

moval might prove a preeminent boon...?

     Well, the 

Finklemans think 'twould be life on the Moon.

     All their 

earthbound associates put 'em on guard:

     "A de 

lune relocation...? Humongously hard!"

     Oi! But 

Shmuel 'n' Sadie have made up their minds

     since a 

prominent Moon-housing researcher finds

     that "a 

minimal gravity helps one lose weight,

     plus the 

people who people the Moon are first-rate."