The Circle of Life: The Crocodile's Verse

The Circle of Life: The Crocodile's Verse 

Come little fishes
Adore our golden scales
And smile
It's easy to flit between our claws
To grasp the tidbits...dangled
So enticingly out of reach
I dare you.

And if you fail
You should have swum faster
And if you fall
We will crush you

Come little fishes
Imagine your scales turned to gold
And rejoice
Our riches could be yours
If you work forever
Or win the lottery
We rigged just for you

And if you fail
You should have worked harder
And if you fall
We will crush your family

Come little fishes,
Cry all you like
We don't need to make the water drinkable
Your tears overflow our crystal glasses
We don't need to have the water wadeable,
When sweet oils fill our swamps to overflowing

And if you drown
You should have grown lungs
And if the rivers should fail
We will eat our fill

Come little fishes,
Not much longer now,
Offer your puny lives
And we will give you
Everlasting
Death

A.J.

Part of my Circle of Life series, this began as a simple poem, but keeps on growing. We can do better, we can bring voices to the table, create a more equitable world, but not when we incentivise people to look after money and not people.

1) The Circle of Life
We have let the snakes 

Into the hen house...

2) Circle of Life II (Snakes in the Henhouse)
Too long
We left the snakes in charge of the henhouse...

3) Circle of Life 3: The facts of life
I know you've heard
There's a new snake pimped out on the lawn...

But however dark it may look, there's hope on the horizon. What do they always say?  "it's always darkest before the dawn" Of course in the physical world, we don't all need to battle against the night to have the return of day, but this is a metaphor here...

Have a great week
A.J. Ponder

Red Admirals

Adrift on the tail of summer
winging their way across the summer lawn
to infiltrate the abode of giants

Patrolling the glass confines
with the grace of a stormy sea 
in summer's heat,
until the trap, long since sprung,
has our admirables
battering against unseen walls
trapped

Escape, escape, escape!
There is none.
Paralysed fear
the jaunty wings grow still
as the giant's blunt jaws
gently enfold
and release with naught
but a sprinkling of black scales

A fine trade
for freedom

A.J. Ponder

Yes!!! A last minute poem, a little late for Tuesday! But enjoy your week, and maybe even wing your way to all the wonderful Tuesday poets at tuesdaypoem.blogspot.com/

The Crocodile by Lewis Carroll

How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin!
How neatly spread his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!


                                                                                       
Danger is beautiful, it will entice you in with smiles and perfect teeth.  Has there ever been a better metaphor wrapped up in more perfect verse?  Probably, but I'll take some convincing...

A.J. Ponder

PS I was on "An Aotearoa Affair" this week with "Remember Remember the Babes in the Wood" so
why not enjoy the dangerously and beautiful world hiding behind the Aotearoa poetry blog.  :) 

Thank you to fellow poet Michelle Elvy for setting this up in the count down to National Poetry day.  I must say there are some other great poems to check out while you're there including a gorgeous selection from Ora Nui 2012 and I must say I particularly enjoyed Helen Lowe's The Wayfarer:  Odysseus at Dodoma.  Of course I did.  As Siobhan Harvey commented, it is - "A poem which seems distinctly Helen and her wider work – mythical, beautifully crafted, layered, skillfully, with evocative language."   So yes - it seems there's almost twice the fun this week...so s while I'm smiling - watch out for the teeth! ;)

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