The Apparat Chicken (from "SympPOTUSsium...

 

The Apparat Chicken 
(seen here operated by 
puppetmaster Putin) 

Another Fine Mess

 

Stan & Oligarch 
(Laurel & Musk) 

The Imba Seal (from "SympPOTUSsium...

 

The Imba Seal 

The Zell Fish (from "SympPOTUSsium; or, Political Animals: A Be(a)stiary

The Zell Fish 

The Inhugh Manatee (from "SympPOTUSsium; or, Political Animals: A Be(a)stiary"

 

  
The Inhugh Manatee 

The Miscree Ant (from "SympPOTUSsium; or, Political Animals: A Be(a)stiary"

 

The Miscree Ant 

The Assleepathe Whale (from "SympPOTUSsium; or, Political Animals: A Be(a)stiary"

 The Assleepathe Whale 

More Mildred Mimicry ("Hajj" Tamale)

Sing "Ho!" for the poet Ali ("Hajj") Tamale! 

His papa's mestizo; his mama's Somali. 

His nemesis...? Mono-. (His  poetry's poly-)*:

the poet Ali ("Hajj") Tamale. 

*Though the subjects of his verse 

are varied, his primary antagonist 

is always Drumpf.

   

"Hajj"'s madrigals, models of meter and rhyme 

made with measures in 5/4 and 7/4 time, 

are revered by both rustics and royals, by golly! 

Plu-poet Ali ("Hajj") Tamale. 

Tres beau be plu-poet Ali ("Hajj") Tamale, 

here posing,* sans clothing, beneath his blue brolly. 

My dad dubs him daffy but I think he's jolly -- 

the awesome Ali ("Hajj") Tamale. 

*Image to come.

Ali's ma, a proponent of Swedish massage, 

with his dad laid their lad in a neighbor's garage. 

(She -- the mom -- is Islam; thus she  nicknames him Hajj, 

does the mommy of Ali Tamale.) 

Plays a didgeridoo does the musicial "Hajj." 

Toots a flute -- TWO flutes, nu...? -- in a sonic collage. 

"Hajj," with Taylor and Taj,* heads one hot entourage -- 

does "Alific'onado" Tamale. 

*Swift and Mahal

    (work in progress) 

What Goes Around

 

Actual hand smaller than it appears. 

Actual tie shorter than it appears. 

Actual club slicier than it appears. 

Actual hair wa-a-y weirder than it appears. 

Sympfauna: An Abecedarial Animal Orchestra

     ABC 

Antelopes play autoharps.

Bonobos blow a boatswain's call.

Cows play cowbell scales in sharps.

(Albino cows can play 'em all.) 

     DEF 

Dingoes play their daxophones.

Elephants...? Electric basses.

Fleas play F-flat flexatones. 

(Mine I store in anvil cases.)

     GHI 

On Sundays, gnus play guitarróne. 

On Saturdays, harmonica. 

(On weekdays, ANY id'ophone,

though shofars during Hannukkah.) 

     JKL 

Jays, in March, play jingle bells. 

In April, kites play key'd bassoon. 

July finds lemurs playing lute, 

though rarely in the month of June. 

     MNO 

In May play Mynas madrigals.

Nightingales play nu skool breaks. 

Ostriches play operettas. 

(Oh, what noise each ostrich makes!)

     PQ 

Pre-dawn, prawns pianos play.

At quarter past eleven, 

quahogs execute quintets. 

(They quit 'round ten of seven.) 

     RST 

Rhinoceruses racketts play. 

Do serpents play their serpents...? Sure! 

And tadpoles play trombones (they say), 

though plagued with swollen  embouchure.

     UVW 

Urchins play a ukulele.

Vampire bats play vibraphone. 

Wallabies play washboard. (Hayley 

Mills would, too, were she full grown.) 

     XYZ

Xeruses, of course, play xun.

Yaks play yun-lo. (Are we done...?)

Zaks and zorses play a zither. 

Being tone-deaf, I play none. 

The Week of the Walrus & (OPQ) (RST) (UVW) (XYZ)

     O

The walrus and the open quote "got sumthin' ta say."*
'Tain't nuthin' from "The Open Boat" or "Lay Fay Wray...? Nay!"**

(Let's hope no clause they quote won't cause no 

auto-de-fe.)

     

*As does To Kill a Mockingbird's.   Mayella.

**Short stories by Stephen Crane and Uly Poe respectively.

 
     P 

The walrus holds a pencil sketch, 

a nine-inch W. 

(Already render'd 

in his hand-drawn ABC are Q, 

D, X and G -- which leaves the Z

'mongst letters left to do.)

     Q

The walrus tells the quarter rest: 

"Kick back! Chill out! Unwind!

"Take five or so! Pause half a mo'!

Light up if you've a mind!" 

(The walrus thinks no forty winks 

would leave a body blind.) 

*   *   *   *   *

     R 

The walrus and the rhombus

wend their way across the campus.

"Phobics fear we'll raise a rumpus 

'cuz my Grampa Ham's a grampus," 

jaws the walrus. Adds the rhombus: 

"They can do no worse than vamp us."

     S 

The walrus used a slotted spoon, 

a "runcibl'd"* utensil, 

whene'er he dined. His -- triple-tined,

though, sadly, not prehensile, 

thus good for stabbing, bad for grabbing -- 

doubled as a pencil. 

("I pierc'd each hole," said he, "with kohl

to make this op-art stencil.")

*I.e., so characterized by Ed Lear. 

     T 

The walrus and the turn o' phrase 

could set the letter'd world  

ablaze. 

Their "Drumpf: America's malaise" 

and "Don would banish holidays" 

should preempt older watchwords --Klee's, 

Man Ray's and those of Gabby Hayes. 

*   *   *   *   *

    U 

The walrus and the UFO 

collectively decide 

to lift the mask, tell all who ask, 

"We'll no more run nor hide. 

We choose, from this day forward, bliss: 

We're now...identified!"

     V 

The walrus and the vindaloo, 

a curry cured in Goa, 

would chilis add (an Asian fad),

then scurry to Samoa, 

avoiding, thus, that damnéd bus 

to curséd Krakatoa. 

     W

The walrus licks a wint'ry mix -- 

cum wind cum rain cum sleet*

cum white stuff (piles!) up on his roof 

cum black ice down his street. 

For, though he balks, he shovels walks: 

"Though just it ain't, 'tis meet."**

*Echoes here of the Arlen/Mercer pop standard "Come Rain or Come Shine." 

**Echoes here of the Christian liturgy Preface's "It is meet and just..."

*   *   *   *   *

     X 

The walrus and the xylocarps 

discuss their coming meal:

"Each hardwood hide hold seeds inside. 

'Let's eat!''s my sole appeal." 

"We NOW know," xylocarps reply, 

"how Carroll's oysters feel."

     Y 

The walrus and the year just pass'd -- 

the stuff the Drumpfster wrought, 

the tweets half-ass'd, the press he  sass'd, 

the politicians bought, 

the rants, the farts... (The saddest part's I fear he'll ne'er be caught.) 

     Z 

The walrus and the zodiac, 

to cover all their bases,

append a dozen constellations -- 

most with modern faces. 

"Our brand-new wheel will play, we feel, 

quite well with darker races," 

the walrus said, whereon he read 

some twelve new names and places. 

"Halfway 'twixt The Ram and Bull appears The Hereford Hog, 

who's smaller than an elephant but bigger than a dog, 

prolific as a cottontail and docile as a log.

"Between The Bull and Gemini 

one ascertains The Cross, 

the Celtic one (you've seen a ton), 

with, cover'd o'er in moss, 

an image of a small white dove. 

(Or else an albatross.) 

"Between The Gemini and Twins 

you'll spot The Saddle Shoe...

     (more to come)