How doth the little crocodile...

How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in,
With gently smiling jaws!

BEAUTIFUL Soup, so rich and green,
Waiting in a hot tureen!
Who for such dainties would not stoop?
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!

Beau--ootiful Soo-oop!
Beau--ootiful Soo-oop!
Soo--oop of the e--e--evening,
Beautiful, beautiful Soup!

Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish,
Game, or any other dish?
Who would not give all else for two
Pennyworth only of Beautiful Soup?
Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?

Beau--ootiful Soo-oop!
Beau--ootiful Soo-oop!
Soo--oop of the e--e--evening,
Beautiful, beauti--FUL SOUP!

When will the bell ring, and end this weariness?
How long have they tugged the leash, and strained apart
My pack of unruly hounds: I cannot start
Them again on a quarry of knowledge they hate to hunt,
I can haul them and urge them no more.
No more can I endure to bear the brunt
Of the books that lie out on the desks: a full three score
Of several insults of blotted pages and scrawl
Of slovenly work that they have offered me.
I am sick, and tired more than any thrall
Upon the woodstacks working weariedly.


And shall I take
The last dear fuel and heap it on my soul
Till I rouse my will like a fire to consume
Their dross of indifference, and burn the scroll
Of their insults in punishment? - I will not!
I will not waste myself to embers for them,
Not all for them shall the fires of my life be hot,
For myself a heap of ashes of weariness, till sleep
Shall have raked the embers clear: I will keep
Some of my strength for myself, for if I should sell
It all for them, I should hate them -
- I will sit and wait for the bell.

A noiseless patient spider,
I marked where on a promontory it stood isolated,
Marked how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launched forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be formed, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

Only the dead may park, all others
must stay on the move. All drive-ins
are henceforth drive-thrus. Length

and purpose of stopping determines
severity of penalty: to plant a seed
forfeits a hand, to sketch a flower,

an eye. Dumping your ashtray,
however, is everywhere permitted.
The jurisdiction of this statute

extends to all rivers and the Great
Lakes, covers all mineral claims
except strip mines, goes out to sea

three hundred miles, and vertically to
infinity, the North Star having a waiver.
Fishermen must troll, becalmed schooners

will be sunk, innertubes, confiscated.
For your comfort, mobile gas-food-
restroom facilities have been dispatched

to circle at all interstate highway
cloverleaves, Three million square miles
of pavement will shortly be added,

as soon as the apartments come down.
The Director cordially wishes everyone
happy motoring. Now, make it snappy.

...Many men go fishing all their lives without knowing
....that it is not fish they are after.......Thoreau

The bright lures caught him,
Their intended victim.
Hula Popper, Lazy Ike, Daredevil, River Runt.

The lake will turn over like
A sleeping woman, and
He will be there with rough cracked hands.
Bushwacker, Sonic, Hawaiian Wiggler, Whopper Stopper.

He craves the sleek contours
And simulations of life
In obscenely intense plastic.
Hooks are always there, just hidden,
Neatly packaged like suburban adultery.
Hellbender, No Alibi, Dipsy Doodle, Slurp-it.

He squints the shimmer of water from his eyes,
And mutters a kind of love
Or excuse for loneliness.
Bayou Boogie, Hot Spot, Dying Flutter, Buck Bush.

The choices, intricate as guilt, fascinate him.
With drooling visions it is all here just for him.
Puddle Jumper, Roostertail, Blue Demon, Bingo.

Wedding Poems