Fire and the King – a first draft

Fire and the King

or why we have to keep our eyes open and not let them think we are all fools

The King is scared of fire. He needs

the biggest rubber duck with the biggest

hole to fit a belly that is shiny as his head.

A duck that can float without bumping

against the sides of the biggest pool

one cannot easily afford.

Oh, sorry, not a rubber duck,

I meant a rubber rooster that clucks

clucks clucks when sensors are set off,

when it smells smoke with its fleshy

red crown. The King himself

needs a crown the shape of a shower.

For he saw in a dream that fire

can eat up thatched roofs in one gulp,

a terrible fire that has sharp teeth but

does not chew up what it bites. This

is how it should be. This is how to protect

a King from the shadows of a dream.

-o-

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