A pharoah from an ancient world
now forced to prowl these streets alone.
You stopped at Sbarro where you curled
up to a rat and ricotta calzone.
Hear the twitters tweeting twaddle,
hear them joke and mock
your power.
Until you chase them as they waddle
down the city block
and cower.
Oh tragic beast of spring-loaded venom,
hidden 'neath your rough-scaled hood.
We fear your fangs with poison in 'em
and whimper as you slither through our hood.
Slink on down and catch the one,
stop off at Times Square,
sun yourself in neon.
Watch as all the tourists run,
and hiss at their despair,
"fly you silly peons."
For one great week you had us all
eating from the palm of your... back.
You even managed to cast a pall
over the star of Rebecca Black.
But perhaps we misjudged
your famous media romp.
After all, what do we know?
The details were fudged!
You were just a fan of STOMP
trying to catch dinner and a show.
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I love the moments where you feel that ancient Pharaoh power come through all the noise of the stupid modern city here, TD. The snake "Catching the one" is a breath-taking moment already, and I love sunning in neon. I wonder if this poem isn't resisting it's own impulse to go to that place a little more, give us a larger window and some context so those ancient mythic moments can use their gravity to create something even more cohesive and haunting. I don't want the end of this poem to cop-out, basically... I don't believe that this snake wanted to see STOMP. I think it has to end with some thought about the power of that primal thing... at the end of the day it's still winning, even if we're tweeting frivolously about it. Anyway the rhyme is delightful, makes me so excited to see 29 more of these puppies from you :)
ReplyDeleteOh and also I love that "peon" simultaneously reads as "pigeon" because we're in Time^2 and they are everywhere like tourists, do not change that under any circumstances please.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dinah--don't cop-out at the end with STOMP and Rebecca Black.
ReplyDeleteThis reminded me a little bit of Pablo Neruda's "Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market". There's a shared reference of lost kings/pharoahs, but yours isn't dead, which makes the idea of being lost/on the loose really great. I want to see this snake peronsified more after he calls us peons.