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Open Poetry #40
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The Man Who Built His House on A Swamp
| Open Poetry #40 |
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The Man Who Built His House on A Swamp |
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arbpoet Junior Member
since 2006-11-22
Posts 38 |
A man, who was a private man. He desired solitude. He desired peace. He searched for solitude. He searched for peace. He could not find solitude and peace in town. He could not find solitude and peace out in the country. It was too close to barking. It was too close to cockadoodling. So he searched far. He searched for many miles. Out beyond a woods in a murky swamp. He found what he was searching for He stopped and listened for a moment. Here was the solitude he longed for. Here was the peace he craved. Of course there was solitude. Of course there was peace. Who in their healthy mind would come to a swamp? What creature would want to live in sickly slime? So he spoke to himself, "This is where I can rest." "This is where I can humdrum." "I will build a house." "So peace can pervade my brain." "Privacy can be king." "I will sit on my porch, inviting only the mosquitoes to my kingdom." "I will sit on my wicker chair, strumming the summer breeze with my bare toes." "I will toast my face in front of the fire in winter." "I will fog up my windows with cocoa breath." "In the spring I will sniffle the perfume of swamp slime." "I will attempt to see how many pretty hues of green are contained in muck." “No incessant barking can bother my nerves." "No loud mouthed rooster can jangle my snoring." "No yapping neighbors." "No squiggly children." "No jacked up boom boxes." "No clacking of plowed fields." "I will be the only one in my solitary domain." He sank his house into the slurpy swamp. His house grew stilts and stood tall over the pea soup. He reveled in his private nook. He gloried in his swamp kingdom. His heart and mind were deceived because the swamp would not tolerate incursion. That is why a swamp grows. Because it wants to be alone. The swamp bubbled and awaited its triumph. It would humiliate the private man. It would squish him out with disdain. If the private man wanted solitude and peace. He should have searched in a garbage dump, a sewer, or a cave. Nature would brutalize the private man. Nature with its sudden blows. The swamp brooded calmly awaiting a calamitous day. The rains came and dumped down. A sheet of water covered the private man’s home. The swamp sucked up the stilts. It sucked up the porch steps. The private man heard an awful slurp. A slurp that would not let up. The swamp slurped up into the rest of the house. It sucked in the private man’s legs. It slurped over his chest and up his head. It slurped him up in a final gulp. Although the swamp was antisocial. Although the swamp was cruel. The swamp was not evil. It spit the private man out. Spit him out in a slime covered missile. He landed in a chicken house. A rooster sounded off in his ear. His frustration mounted in a deranged cry. He walloped the rooster and bit off its comb. He lost his wits and went to live in the woods as a hideous creature. He comes out at night and eats chicken toes. He visits pastures in the morning and pulls cows’ tails. So if you hear a chicken squawk at night. Or a cow moo with pain in the morning. Know that it is the private man. All his hopes and dreams were dashed. |
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| © Copyright 2007 arbpoet - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan |
A good first draft |
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Earth Angel Member Empyrean
since 2002-08-27
Posts 40215Realms of Light |
A compelling story with a sad and discouraging ending. ~ A well-told tale. You are quite the raconteur! No man is an island ~ even if he desires to be. Living Light, EA |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
Interesting read. Enjoyed. Thank you! |
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Ratleader
since 2003-01-23
Posts 7026Visiting Earth on a Guest Pass |
Swamp...that's a step down from even the sand, eh? You've got me smiling and thinking simultaneously, darn it...and I don't know if I'm up to that combination! ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº> ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº> ~~(¸¸ ¸¸ºº> ~~~(¸¸ER¸¸ºº> |
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