Once Upon a Time
as most stories go,
there was a prince
with an mule in tow

And what really made
a lot of folks balk,
was the weird fact that
the mule could talk

Now this grumpy prince
was not too amused
so he sat right down
and for a day, mused

What ever could he do,
with some old, talking mule?
He was a royal prince!
Not a babbling fool!

He took the mule to town
And put him up for sale
With an old bale of hay
and a watering pail

And so the mule was sold
to a very old man
and his very old wife
of the Coconut Clan

The family was nuts
but they gave the mule hay
and let him run amok
in the pastures all day

And at night the farmer
would talk to the mule
and when the mule talked back
all the neighbors would drool

No one would believe
that the mule could speak
and to all of them
the future was bleak

Until one day, the old man died
The man's wife and the mule cried
Then the woman went to sleep
Never made another peep

And the mule was sad
he ran far away
to a far off castle
all night and all day

He crossed the deep, dark moat
And went to the throne room
when the King saw the mule
he knew he'd met his doom

"Hello old prince" said the mule
"Hello" the prince replied
and ran for his life
despite all his pride

The mule sat on the throne
and let out a defeated drone
He didn't have a clue
for there was nothing else to do

"I guess I'm king now" he said
And placed the royal crown on his head

Thank you for letting me go, I can finally breathe.

Kiss me with my lips that look like blood pooling
and eyes that look like an exit sign

Sitting on the back porch licking a popsicle
the color of your essence slowly with eyelids closed
and careful movements

I am a snake charmer
a deadly woman
and I am 12

you want me whispering stardust into your ears
and you’re trying to make yourself see it as wrong

But I am all want
I am need
something about me is saying please

I am silk sheets
a sunny day breeze
and I am 12

the edges of my blonde hair comes to the
third vertebrae in my spine
and you want your hands curled in it

you want me like
I am water to the flame that rests in your tongue

you’ve never read ****** before
but you swear I'm the one
Vladimir Nabokov had in mind