the sound of smooth jazz
sheets the room with sexual passions
that dance heavily across
the crowd.
and through the utter thickness
of a blaring saxophone
and the delicate taps of a piano's keys,
I clutch to your tummy
and lie my head on your chest.
your arm is draped gently
around my shoulders
as you snap your fingers
to the tune.
my fingers find the way to
the soft pieces of hair behind your neck
and trail down your skin,
all the way down to your shirt.
as the music surrounds me
and fills me with great desire
to touch you
(and for you to touch me)
I slowly undo the buttons,
one by one.
I leave fragile kisses
on your cheeks,
neck,
cool skin,
and let my fingertips
glide across your arms.
what could be better than
being here beside you -
enchanting music traveling through
our ears, through our veins,
and into our hearts?
what could be better
than spending this moment
with you?

a.m.

..........................................................

Far beyond the
Cool waters
Of Barbuckle Bay.
Over hilltops,
Through valleys.
Oh, much further away
Than the Dunes of Sakee
Or the Gulf of Sha'han.
Lives a strange little
Foozle-haired,
Freckle-faced man.

Now, he's always been
A rather odd fellow, you see.
He's never cared much
For neighbors,
Or had company.
And he's always been
Sort of strange,
In a strange sort of way.
And you'd have
Right well agree'd
Had you seen him today.

Because he seemed
A right twitty,
Rather knitty for him.
He was just out in his yard
Looking puzzled and prim.
With his big purple suit
And his big purple tie,
And his big purple hat
Almost touching the sky.

An odd, curious grin
Covered half of his face,
And his beady eyes glowed
With an innocent grace.
He had in his hands
But one strange little box,
And the strangest thing was
That it had sixteen locks!
............................................................

A box,
Just a box...
Just a box of a box,
A box that looked
Rather like
Any other old box.
Oddishly strange
With an Ooble and Obb,
A box half the color
Of Corn-On-The-Cob,
A box that did nothing
But act like a square,
A box no more
Impressive than
Any other box there.

A coffin, a carton,
A pillar, a chest,
A package of wonders
All sorted and pressed.
An oddish compartment,
A pyxis, a case.
All filled to the brim
With the trimmings
Of grace.

As he stepped up the small hill
With his odd little box
He produced a Gold Key
From the cuff of his socks.
And as if he were mending
A hummingbirds wing
He unlocked every lock
On that odd little thing.

Not just one lock,
Or two locks,
Or three locks,
Or four locks,
Or five locks,
Or six locks,
But quite a few
More locks!
There were big locks
And small locks,
Short locks,
And tall locks,
Round locks,
And blue locks,
And some
Kangaroo locks!
.................................................
He unlocked them,
Each one,
Every lock he could see,
He double-unlocked
Every lock that could be.
He unlocked them quite slowly
When the box made a sound,
And he looked slowly around,
And then he set the box down.

He stepped one step away,
Then two steps,
Then four.
And then,
Just to be safe,
He went back twenty more
Steps, and stood there
And watched
As it gave a quick sniggle.
Then he froze
When it started to wiggle
And jiggle.

He did not move an inch,
Not a half-half an inch!
Not a half-half of half-half
Of half-half an inch.
Not a mil of a meter,
Not a singular hinch!
Not a smidgen of smidgens.
No! Not even a pinch!
He was frozen, this man,
In his loud purple tie
And his big purple hat
Nearly touching the sky.

He looked just like
The statues
In Farfarfield Park,
The one's they light up
When it starts to get dark.
The one's that try to stand still
Through the light of the day,
Always thinking, and thinking
Of something clever to say.
That is, until the box sniggled
The biggest sniggle of all,
And out from the box
Popped a big
Orange ball!
.............................................................­.......

Just a ball?
Why, indeed!
Just a big Orange ball!
This made absolutely no sense!
It made no sense at all!
What kind of a goof
Would go to such
An extreme?
To hide a big orange ball
Where it can never
Be seen?

To build such a strange box,
Not too large,
Or too wide,
And then hide
A big Orange ball
Deep inside?
What on earth were
They thinking,
The veritable lot.
For this did not make
Any sense.
Why, indeed!
It did not!

But the odd little man
In the loud purple tie
Had a sparkle of joy
In the gem of his eye.
He was not disappointed,
Not unhappy at all
As he reached down
And picked up
The big Orange ball.

He stepped back
One more step,
And grinned a silver, sly grin
As the strange little box
Seemed to blobble within.
It grrr'd a big growl
And then snarled a half,
And then out from the box
Peeked the head of a Giraffe.

It looked up.
It looked down.
It looked there.
It looked here.
It looked frightfully curious,
As it waggled each ear.
Then careful as a feather
Tossed into the breeze
The Giraffe left the box
With a demure, little sneeze.
...................................................
A silence then echoed
From here out to there,
From all the way up,
And then way, way down, where
The down meets the bottom
And then looks up to the top.
When suddenly the
Strange little box
Gave a pop.

Not just one little pop.
But a grand pop bizarre,
A pop loud enough
To bounce off from a star.
The big yard hushed silent,
Not a breath could be heard,
As out from the box
Hopped a Popple-Toffed Bird.

It hooted and tooted
And scratched at the sand,
With a dignified air,
And a touch of command.
It wore ribbons and stars,
Accolades of acclaim,
Medals and honors
That suited its name.

It flapped out its wings
And gave a Popple-Toffed cry
That bounced off and echoed
All over the sky.
When the box sort of trembled,
And skiddoodled a bit,
Then it twizzled and showered
Great rainbows from it.
....................................................
The strange little man
Shifted his strange little head,
As he gazed through a cloud
That glowed blue, green, and red.
He blinked both his eyes,
And then blinked them anew,
When he saw something most people
Never get to!

There were three Chimpanzee's chatting
Along with seven Whooping Cranes.
A checkerboarded Hedgehog
That slowly walked with a cane.
A Camel and an Ocelot
That played a round of golf.
And a Warthog and a Wildebeest
With all their blinking lights
Turned off.

There was an Oryx and a Pelican
Who were discussing, as of late,
Anything they could think of
Which their great minds could create.
There was a Gorilla reading Shakespeare,
And a Hyena with a sneeze,
Who then chased and chased and chased
All the Meerkats up the trees.

There was a Bear in a cannon
Who tried to shoot to the moon.
And a Counting-Type Mouse
Riding on a Takaraccoon!
There was an old Alligator
Who was singing a song
About his Great Uncle Ned
Who was an Iguanadon.

The Peacocks seemed somewhat unhappy
With the Hippopotamas,
And the Penguines weren't too thrilled
With the old Rhinoceros.
A Pink Stork and an Aardvark
Resumed their exhaustive game of Chess,
And the Gnu was left alone
To sort out the entire mess.
...................................................
And then the box, it fizzled,
And let out a fine clatter,
There was a schizzle, a snap,
And a curious patter.
The box hopped and it flopped,
And it swizzled about,
When a school of Wannabee's
Tip-toed on out.

They stickled and argued
They bickered and ranted,
They quibbled and squabbled,
They complained, and incanted.
One said, "I wish I were orange,
And yellow, and green."
And one said, "I wish I were
A washing machine."
One said, "I wish I were
Something far in-between
A Tozzle-Moffed Took
And a Butterfly Bean."
Oh, those Wannabees were sure
An interesting lot
Always wanting to be something
They knew they were not.

He paused for a moment,
And smiled quite pleased,
As he watched the Baboons
Swinging from a trapeze.
And he tapped at his hat
As he walked slowly around,
Enjoying this measure
Of treasure he'd found.

A Chipmunk and Field skunk
Played Gnome Tic-Tac-Toe.
And a Flittleflufly
Tried to play a giant Obeo.
All the Giraffe's fixed their ties
So they all looked their best,
With their collar, lapel,
And their polka-dot vest.

A great silence then shrouded
The far, far and the near,
From here down to there,
And from there back to here.
Not a breeze dared to blow
Across the green of the glade,
Not a jingle, nor jangle,
Nor whisper was made.
........................................................
The hush grew and grew,
Across the whole country side,
From the Thorns of Contention,
To the old Barbados Pride.
From the hills to the valleys,
From the clefts to the sea,
From the Ikinzoo River
To the Bucklewheat Tree.

The box slowly trembled,
Then hooted a hoot,
It hopped and it twizzled
And it tooted a toot.
It thundered quite loudly,
It toppled and fanned,
When out from the box
Popped a big Marching Band.

There were Tuba's,
And French Horns,
And one Clarinet.
With some Flutes,
And some Trumpets,
And two old Cornets.
They had Oboe's and Hobos
And one Saxophone.
Two Bass Drums, and Cymbals,
And one Crazy Bone.

They trumped all their Trumpets,
And they blew all their Horns.
They tooted their Tooters,
And they flinted their Corns.
They pounded their Bass Drums
Until the stars in the sky
Whistled and whizzed
And then showered on by.
....................................................
A Pettifrog perched
On a leaf near the creek
Climbed up the cobblestone walk
For a quick little peek.
A Boggle-Nosed Snodd stayed
Clear out of the way,
And feared getting lost
In the vast dissarray.

The sky lit up brightly
With showers of blue,
Sparkles and rainbows
That just grew, grew and grew,
Waving across all
The heavens above,
Every color the odd little man
Could think of...

There were Purples and Reds,
Yellows, Orange and greens,
Sparkles of pink the shade
Of nine Halloweens.
Aqua and Crimson,
Emerald and Gold,
And a dazzling Violet
The shade of
Fizziwigg Mold.

The strange little man
Beamed with such a grand pride,
He all but glowed golden
From deep down inside.
As he knelt down to his box
And he gave it a tap,
And it took but a moment
When he heard a snap-snap.
.............................................................­.
The winds started spinning,
And the sky went a'swirl,
The bright rainbow colors
Started to billow and curl.
Then the Giraffe's and the
Popple-Toffed Bird gave a plop,
Swept up in the gale
That did not want to stop.

The sky tossed a thunder
Way into the breeze,
That pulled every Meerkat
Right out from the trees,
And they swam in the sea
Of red, purple and blue,
And back into the Box
With the finest adieu.

Lightning flashed with a tumult
That wandered so high
It sent echoes that spiderwebbed
The whole purple sky.
When the Penguins, the Stork,
And the Hippopotamas
Disappeared into the storm
That claimed the Rhinoceros.

The monkeys were next,
And the Great Wildebeest,
The Ostrich, the Crane
And every Chess piece.
The box reached out and
Claimed everything in the land,
From the Mongoose and the Gnu
To the Big Marching Band.
.............................................................­..........
Until nothing was left
But the strange little man
Who stood there smiling wide
With this Box in his hand.
And as if he were mending
A Tozzle'd Took's wing,
He then locked every lock
On that odd little thing.

Far beyond the
Cool waters
Of Barbuckle Bay.
Over hilltops,
Through valleys.
Oh, much further away
Than the Dunes of Sakee
Or the Gulf of Sha'han.
There still lives
A strange little
Foozle-haired,
Freckle-faced man.

Who does not mind at all
That he's fair to the wind,
And hasn't yet noticed
His eyebrows have thinned.
Who does not miss the neighbors
That never stop by.
Nor the Wobble-Winged Thrushes
That cross his blue sky.

Who never shares any word
He considers unkind,
And who never will share
Of his Wonderful Find,
Or of the Secret he keeps
Safely locked up with locks
All well and secure
In his strange little box.

Copyright © 2013 Richard D. Remler

...........................................................
"Think left and think right
and think low and think high.
Oh, the things you can think up
if only you try!"
~ Dr. Seuss
..........................................................