Libby Weber's Blog, page 12

October 20: We’re All Mad Here

It’s odd to me that there’s a time of year

When we’re at peace with skeletons on doors,

Where ghouls elicit smiles rather than fear,

And everybody suddenly adores

The spiderwebs that they’d fain brush away

In any other month, and recreate

In pristine homes a semblance of decay,

Suburban normalcy to desecrate.

And while a cynic might turn up his nose,

I can’t not be delighted by the sight

Of all the weird with boring juxtaposed

For weeks on end- not just a single night.

I know, behind each spicy pumpkin d...

October 19: Widow Dido

Dido’s Lament, that melody immortal,

Premiered within a girls’ school’s cloistered walls,

And functions as a chronomobile portal-

Contemporary listeners might forestall

The tragedy by asking what went wrong,

Exactly how the queen of Carthage died-

Did Dido droop to death as in the song,

Or was it star-crossed lover’s suicide?

I like to think the pyre on which she burned

To tell Aeneas “Hi!” was just a ruse,

That through enforced experience was earned,

So later she could do what she would choose.

And in m...

October 18: Bough Wow Rough Roof

I wonder if dogs ever are amazed

At how their owners can communicate

Whether they should be scolded or be praised

And if it means their supper should be late.

For while they exercise precise olfaction,

Anatomy their vocal skills impedes.

Domestication increased their attraction

To humans and the skill to guess their needs.

Are whines a dog’s attempted conversation,

Or simply treats and dinner to beseech,

Or possibly a puerile imitation

Of what’s perceived when they hear human speech?

Regardless of how we...

October 17: Exhausting Week

I knew this week was going to be unpleasant-

The only thing unknown was the degree

To which the lousiness was clear and present

And how long I’d endure ignominy.

Between bad news and stress I had my pick,

With fraught misunderstandings in between,

And each that followed felt like one more kick

From fortune’s well-oiled arse-kicking machine.

Some unexpected kindnesses were granted,

Because, most likely, chance already found

Incessant misery should be supplanted:

Because you can’t trip someone on the grou...

October 16: Rather Nice

The best laid plans, as Robbie said, go wrong

And leave us feeling saddened and distressed-

One has but little choice to go along

And hope the plans survive the latest test.

Though one can’t guess the vagaries of fate,

One can design a strategy robust

In which contingencies are given weight,

Statistics leaving fortune quite nonplussed.

But when a plan is lacking from inception

And your resources cannot be sufficient

To fix it, your selective self-deception

Convinces you you’re actually omniscient.

But no...

October 15: An Incoherent Whatsit

Too long my work day stretched into the dusk-

As a result, plucked shelving coasted free,

And bustled flimsy sausages with musk

Whilst funding porridge uniformity.

The tasks undone left my exhausted brain

In gabled tortoises of clearest loam,

Foretold acrostic corduroy terrain,

And shortly cracked the unsung magic chrome.

If you need sense or judgment, come not here-

The bungees of my brain are clearly flocked.

It’s all that I could do to engineer

A belly button when the phantom squawked.

As zebras drive...

October 14: Tech Week, Pt. 1

To be involved in building a new show

Even, as I am, quite peripherally,

Is like a foxtrot: slow, slow, quick-quick, slow-

A slog until it runs, not magically

Because you saw each portion of the trick

Rehearsed, repeated, every cue perfected,

Until at last each tiny cog will click

Into its proper place, interconnected,

Or proximal- oh let it not be long,

Before the show is ready to be run

So there is time for all things to go wrong

Before it will be seen by everyone.

And once performance fears are realiz...

October 13: Mutinous

I cannot blame the captain of the ship

For disciplining lubberly midshipmen,

Though crews through which misunderstanding slip

With noxious rumours thoroughly equip men.

Suspicion sowed on every spar and deck

Makes all desirous of assigning blame

In order to avert a violent wreck,

Unlucky Jonah being called by name.

So when the purser gets a private note,

Requesting guidance, he does not return it.

Instead he will betray the one who wrote

And makes him wish that he had thought to burn it.

From whom will s...

October 12: Versa Vice

This afternoon we drove down to the pub

And saw that we had already arrived,

For parked fortuitously near to a shrub,

The model, make, and color that we drive.

And since the street had no more empty space,

With our past selves we felt a little vexed

That by their lingering we were displaced,

Who knew what inconvenience they’d cause next?

But then, upon a cross street I espied

A space much closer to our destination.

We slid into it with a dash of of pride

That really didn’t bear examination.

We had to lau...

Ocober 11: Elephantine

A pachyderm, as its name would imply,

Is quite encompassed by a rugged hide.

Alas, that epithet must needs belie

The tenderness the creature keeps inside.

Enormity and strength too often tempt

Some smaller, weaker entity to force

Them into yoke, their seizure will exempt

The captor from all pity and remorse.

And even those who freely range are caught

In land disputes and shrinking territory,

Or for their ivory callously shot

By those for whom blood money is the quarry.

Until peace gives them refuge overd...