What Mr. Puddle Didn’t Know

Mr. Puddle left his house just after four
Looking for a friend, a tick he’d met before
Lately he’d been thinking
As we sometimes do
Tableware was clinking
The side of his canoe
What he didn’t know was how to open up the door

Buses swayed like jelly up and down the street
Puddle knew the firemen would soon retreat
Then he saw a thingy
Something caught his eye
Seeing it was stringy
He made no reply
What he didn’t know was how to keep a steady beat

Later in the changing room without a hook
Mr. Puddle acted like he’d read the book
Tick was privy to it
That is all we know
Someone had to do it
Puddle let it go
What he didn’t know was just how long the whole thing took

Just before his bedtime in the dining car
Tick procured a broom from just behind the bar
Swept it all up sweetly
From the dirty floor
Stacked the teacups neatly
“What’d you do that for?”
What he didn’t know was that they hadn’t gone that far

After Mr. Puddle and his friend the tick
Heard the screaming babies they performed the trick
When the music started
Someone blew the fuse
Everyone departed
Such depressing news
What he didn’t know was how to shake a fairy stick

That is why this story has a moral too
Every tale should have one even if it’s true
Never take a pigeon
To a matinee
Not even a smidgeon
Not the other way
Mr. Puddle’s sorry that he never really knew


15 October 2006

The Croc and Mr. Puddle

Crocodile is at the window
looking in with chin on thumb
Mr. Puddle spots a rainbow
holds his hand out to the sun

artifacts adorn the bedroom
papers strewn across the floor
Crocodile has lots of headroom
but will not enter by the door

fire engine turns a corner
chasing cat and ball and frog
engine wailing like a mourner
drives into a Lincoln Log

Mr. Puddle turns to see it
breaking free from timeless trance
though he knows he cannot be it
loves the notion of romance

now the room has grown much smaller
all the toys are put away
Crocodile is smiling taller
Puddle asks the croc to stay

declining by a shrug of shoulder
reptile thanks him with a grin
human now feels so much bolder
it’s not to say what might have been
it’s not to say what might have been


24 July 2006