Commando of the Kitchen

I walked out my front door and BAM! An aircraft carrier dropped out of the sky onto the houses and yards across the street! I was baffled. Stupefied. I felt like eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or a hamburger, whichever I saw first. So, I went to my neighbor’s swimming pool and I jumped in. That’s when I realized, there was a poison gas spreading around my neighborhood! So, I wrestled an ostrich and got my ostrich saddle and put it on the ostrich. Then I hopped on and rode him all the way to California.

When I got there, I rented a giant turtle, and took a tour of San Francisco. I ate corn meal porridge, then jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. I was feeling kind of stuffy, so I swam across the Bay until I got tired. Then I borrowed a jet ski, but that was pretty tiring, too. So I crawled ashore then sunbathed for a few hours. That was how I came to be associated with red lobsters.

Suddenly, my teeth jumped out of my mouth and bit a Labrador retriever that was walking by, and I said that I refused to smoke a cigarette on the grounds that it may incriminate me. So I ate some pizza, then took a trolley ride and sang the rice-a-roni song while hiccuping until I puked. That was the last time I ever ate pizza. And I turned in my homework but got an F because it was late.

That’s when I realized that my house was on fire back in Florida. The police called me and told me they saved the house but all the pets escaped and they couldn’t be caught. Jackie was on Dialawait at the time, so she was fine. So I ate some saltine crackers and drank some seven up. My puking was over and I had a house to live in. I called Zeeb and he came back, then Charlie and Pumpkin showed up. I called Tandy too, and she eventually came running back.

So I rented a limousine and went to Timbuktu on an auto carrier. Then I traveled up to the moon in a rocket ship without anything to eat for several days. I was so hungry when I got back that I asked Jackie to bake one of her skillet apple pies, and I ate the whole thing in one sitting. Then I reached out for a taco and a sub sandwich, but I couldn’t reach them across the street. So I sat on my couch and cried, until Jackie brought me a Philly cheesesteak, then I was happy.

I colored in a few coloring books until Jackie said she was going to Eye Associates to see Dr Bui to have him do a cornea transplant. I told her I’d go with her and be there until and after the surgery. That’s when I realized I hadn’t eaten in a few minutes, so I called Papa Johns. Then I realized I couldn’t eat another pizza, so I hung up on them. I lost my appetite, so I decided to drive down to Davie to see my Dad and play a game of cribbage with him.

So then I ran back to Tallahassee and got on the minibus to China First. I had peanut chicken and lo mein and pork fried rice and General Tso’s chicken and beef and broccoli. That’s when I heard the ancient call of the snuffalupagus. I rang a bell, beat a drum, then took a deep breath. It was all I could do to not run like a Cadillac. So, I thought about it for a while, then came up with a plan. I’d sneer in to the bank while everyone was home sleeping and leave a roach motel under the commander’s chair. That was the best I could do in one day, at least until I had some coffee cake.

Saying It Again

Does what’s already been said,

Need to be said again?

Perhaps. Maybe, if,

In a new way,

Or, maybe, if,

From a new person;

For, it’s not just

What is said, that matters,

But who says it, and,

Who they say it to,

And, Lord knows,

Just because it’s

In a book,

Doesn’t mean

It will be read,

Certainly not by everyone.

Knowledge

Do I know more now,

Then I did, back then?

What I know now,

Is how little I know.

When I was young,

I thought I knew everything.

I thought there wasn’t much

Left to learn.

How little I knew!

Much less than now,

And yet, the more I know,

The more I realize,

There is so much out there

That I know nothing about!

I have forgotten a lot

Of what I used to know.

But I am wiser, now,

Because now I know

That how much one knows

Doesn’t really matter.

But wisdom is precious,

And comes at a price.

I do not think so much

Of myself anymore.

I am humbled,

And I have suffered

Quite a bit.

Suffering has a way

Of showing a person

What is and who are

Really important.

Family and friends

Shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Love, above all,

Is to be cherished.

Freedom

When I see your face

I think of those

Whom I grew up around,

Messing with me

Whenever possible,

Invading my privacy,

Taking away my freedom.

But my freedom

Was intact.

It was my race

That took away

Their freedom.

They didn’t have

A fancy free childhood

Like me.

They weren’t given

Whatever they wanted,

And weren’t free

To go wherever

And with whomever

They wanted, like me.

Their parents couldn’t afford

To buy them a computer.

They didn’t have

Highly educated parents

To help them

With their homework.

They had to worry

If they’d have breakfast

Each day,

And dinner was nonexistent.

No, my freedom

Was not taken.

They were just reminding me

That they were there,

And they deserved

Freedom too.

And when they saw me,

They saw privilege,

Someone who couldn’t imagine

What it is like

To really struggle to get by;

Someone who didn’t appreciate

How much freedom they had.

Indeed.

Reconciliation

Walking, trying, bleeding.

Striving, crying, pleading.

Is there a way

Out of this mess?

Can you feel

My vocal caress?

Wondering why

We never learn.

Easy as pie

To make a turn.

Can we put

Our heads together?

Feel the burn

Of the whipping leather.

Know the fear

Of a trapped body and soul.

Find a way out

Of this evil role.

Someday soon

We will realize

Why we are

So despised.

A mystery of sorts,

But not without a clue.

We must find a way

To make things new.