I see a monster
It is eating spaghetti
It is a good thing

I'm glad that it does
Not eat me or my brother
He likes spaghetti

We asked him his name
And he grumbled intensely,
"I'm Mr. Monster!"

He always came in
After a quarter past ten
And raided our fridge.

Frederiksburgville Town
Didn't usually have monsters
But they had pasta

And so the monster
Told the little children things
About from where it came

And it sang a song
That was very short and long
And it went like this:

Gobbledegook gobbledeedee
Fricasha bulungo tirimasu wings!

The children sat stunned
It was a horrible song
You can't sing along.

In the deep dark woods
lived a great brown bear,
he was seven feet tall
but the townsfolk didn’t care
for although the bear was huge
and had fangs and long sharp claws,
all the people would make fun of him
and point out his big flaw.


Have you ever met a bear
who had nothing much to say,
who couldn’t even growl
when he came outside to play?
Well, Bob was his name
and no matter how he tried,
when he opened his big mouth
all he managed was a sigh.


Now in a nearby village
lived a little girl called Sal,
she liked the big old bear
and they’d grown to be good pals.
She was never afraid of Bob
for she loved him well and true,
she was sure he’d never hurt her,
he was gentle through and through.


“I going to stop them laughing”,
decided Sal one sunny day,
“They're no longer making fun
of my dear friend that way!”

So she came up with a plan
that was certain to succeed
and when the crowd arrived,
she sneaked up into a tree.


When poor old Bob stood up tall
and he raised his great big paws,
showing to all the people
he had long and dangerous claws,
little Sal gave the loudest roar
from the top of her tiny lungs
as he opened his enormous mouth
showing them fierce looking fangs.



The people jumped and screamed
and then ran for their dear lives,
falling over wooden fences
and some buzzing bee hives.
The bees came out and cried,
“What a terrible thing to do!”
and they chased them even further
with the threat of a sting or two.


Bob and Sal just laughed and laughed
as she dropped down from the tree

landing right upon his back,
how they giggled with such glee.
“I bet they'll all be hiding now
and wondering with a scowl,
where on earth did that silly bear
get his loud and fearsome growl?”


Sal gave Bob a last big hug
and bade her friend goodnight.
“Didn't we both give them
such a terrible old fright?
Lets do it again tomorrow
and watch them scream and run
from a poor old sighing bear,
who is really such good fun”.


Written by Darren Scanlon, 27th May 2014.
Revised 1st September 2015.
Artwork by Angie Caira.
©2015 Darren Scanlon. All rights reserved.

My friend Terrence
was a little happy sole,
he didn't need a kennel,
nor a house or a hole.

His home was a shell
that he carried on his back,
so that all he had to do
was drop down on the track.

Then he'd pull his head inside,
followed by his legs and feet
and he’d look inside the fridge
for something tasty to eat.

If it started raining
or got too chilly cold,
his friends would run for shelter
beneath trees or in their holes.

But not our little friend,
because he'd climb inside his shell
and have a cup of tea
until the sun chased off the chill.

Wherever he did travel,
he would walk so nice and slow,
well there's no need to rush,
you might trip or stub your toe!

“And all the good things
come to those that wait”,
or so his mother told him
as he headed through the gate.

“If you’re rushing all the time
and your feet don’t want to stop
then you’ll end up getting dizzy
like a whizzing spinning top”.

His mother, how she loved him
and he loved her lots, right back
with her funny little sayings
she would help him stay on track.

So there my tale has ended,
for all you girls and boys,
and now you've met my little friend,
Terence the Tortoise.



*
Written by Darren Scanlon, 25th February 2014.
Revised, 30th August 2015.
Artwork by Angie Caira.
© 2015 Darren Scanlon. All rights reserved.

There once was a pond off the Astrillian shore,
Where a billion clams lay underwater, they snored,
Day after day, tides change to tides,
Yet the life of a clam is still quite a bore.

Until one day an otter, all spryly and nimble,
A prince from the infamous pool down the thimble,
Crossed the old straight with his men through mud and through wimble.

Valiantly striding his conquest was simple,
Representing his people in search of a love life to kindle.
He was quirky, and boisterous, and hard to ignore,

Splashing and thrashing about the good peoples shore,
A good lookin' pup, he swam round in circles,
Converting the Astrillian Algaeans to Murkles.

The clams weren't slow to catch on to the show,
For clams are very attentive you know,
And soon by council & seminar they mouth-fulled their garbles,

"Who yonder this monkey that endlessly wharbles?"
"Are you daft kind sirs?" asks one clam as she snarbles,
"It seems you old men have lost all your marbles,

That is the otter, his highness all the way from Port Schwarble!
He only plays cowbell, throws barbells, and a million such marvels,
It's an Astrillian holiday as far as I yarble, hmm"

She stops,
It's indeed very clear she's been pinned as kalopsious,

"My dear" one clammy clam-clam firmly speaks,
"I see your 'kidz-bop' as they say has given you gleecks,
Your highness, is an otter, we'll be extinct within weeks"

The elders agree and farble on lke sheep,
"The end is near!" the little ones squeak,

But none brave as Mandy,
This little clam candy,
Would even think that moving was handy,

Why, confronting a prince sounds totally dandy,
So she pipped and she chupped,
Getting the elders all sandy.

As she made her way up to her prince, who was also quite randy.
Approaching her man of a million wonders,
She squeaked a fine hello over his rambunctious thunder.

He stopped and observed,
"What is this, hors' doeurves?"
He plucked her and licked her, obviously deterred,

When she snarbled and blushed ignoring the blunder,
"My name is Mandy the First, from the land of down under,

She smiled as he turned to his squire,
"A fine maiden to invite to the royal dinner," laughing they snired.
"I caught wind of your plans to marry" she twinkled,
"I just thought that I'd say that I'm young and I'm single,"

And with a wink she gave off her lady like signal.
The squire scoffed at the lady so simple,
"May I remind you ma'am, this is the prince from the pool down the thimble.
He's come all this way through mud and through wimble,
In search of a maiden to love and ne'er let dwindle,
Yet this peasant clam reminds me of a fire in my belly, so long ago kindled,"

He snirped, Mandy quirped as the prince caressed her dimple,
"You'll not lay your paws on her or her people,
This girl is totally braver than you and our sheeple!
It is decided that I'll be bringing her all the way to the steeple."

The squire grumbled a pox on both sides,
"You princox, we haven't eaten since Ides,
If you really cared so much for your lady,
Then let us first feast on her friends and their babies,
For what is a wedding if we're all riddled with hunger and rabies?"

"Nay squire, for you are a bigger one,
Your princoxious gluttony far exceeds the range of the Astrillian Sun"
"Ooooooooohh!!" his guards hollered and bothered, oh but he wasn't done,

"If you really care for your stomach all the sudden,
Then come at me brother, make me your wet monkey mutton.
See if I care for your metabolic process, you square,
For nothing could separate me from my princess so fair."

And so they charged and they barged and splashed all about her,
As his guards cheered them on into brotherly slaughter,
Witnessing the madness, Mandy would rather be chowder.

As she quietly wept for her hunk of an otter,
She noticed the elders behind her surface the water.
"What do you want?!" snobbing she totally snared,

The elders snooted and bitterly declared,

"We warned you," they flarbed,
"Their kind is brutish and dull," they spat from afar,
"The feud between peoples is older than tar"

Mandy flushed beet red and crying she clacked,
"Your ignorance prevails clams, for that is your only knack,
This man loves me and I love him right back,
In fact he's saving us all from becoming a snack.
And if he succeeds I'll never see you again,

I'll never work your sand-bars, or attend colleges of mermen.
I'll never sing songs or clean up your dens,
And you'll all just be grumpy old clams forever, and then,
When I am queen I will not be so mean.

I will unite all the clamsfolk with our predators keen,
We shall not be afraid and they shall not come to prey,
And who knows maybe we'll all get along someday,"

And with that, the squire cried "Uncle!"
And the prince let go of his sleeper-hold struggle,

"Now will you praise your lady you poor jester thuggle?"
"I do, I do your highness, til death I shall juggle."
And so the otters and clams conjoined the whole island,

With only some leftover haters to beguile,
And within seven days time
People gave up on fear,

Threw out their hunger,
And then it became clear,
With only time left to ponder,

As the big day came near,
At the cathedral they concluded that love lasts much longer,
That really,

Whether one be a clam or an otter,
It is only together that we shall become stronger.

When the clock strook twelfth
Her mind went high
Through darkness, she found her prince
Who wooed her through the night

While the people were asleep
A girl was awake with the moon
This, she loved
For in the darkness, did she only bloom

Although she believed it to be mad;
She soon found herself in love: “Is it silly?”
She asked. And the prince told her
“Darling, men are fools for the things they love”

“And how is it like to live on the moon?”
“I do not,” said the prince
“No. Oh no, you must be
For I have never seen you in reality.”

In time the sun was born
And It burnt the moon so bright
Slowly, the night collapsed
And with it, the prince was gone

Night turned into nights,
The girl looked far and far
But the moon shone no more
She went alone in the dark

Indeed, she turned mad
For she wished on the sun
“Please let the moon be free
only for love will I be greedy”

She begged the sun desperately
Alas, the glow does not feel
For her dreams were destined
Only for the moon to hear

And where has the moon gone?
Where did the prince go?
Why must the night surrender
To the sun’s blinding glow?

"Hear me, my dream, hear my plea"
Is this the fate of a fool?
I am so tired, my love and
The nights have been empty.”

The girl cried out for nights
And soon the people grew angry:
“Sleep by night, wake up by the day
And it’ll all be easy!”

But reality was not to be
For the girl was so unlikely
That while the people revelled in the sun
There she was in a world wondered by

The people were disturbed
By her pleas in the night
That when the sun has risen
They took her out in fright

"Take her!" Shouted the people
And offered her to the sun
“This silly girl has been in love
with a vain dream from afar!”

"Why miss the moon
When there is the sun?
It has brought light and warmth
While the moon showed none. “

"Don’t be a slave to the things that cannot!
In this world we shouldn’t dream—”
“Liars!”shouted the girl
“We are all dreamers by night!”

What the world did not know
She wasn’t in love with the moon
But it was the prince,
The prince who she made her home

For with the prince,
She heard the loud beating of her heart
Felt her soul in his lips
And knew of feelings that before did not exist

She believed that only in love,
did she feel true & alive
“Am I in love with a dream?”
If that is the way to live, so let it be.”

Hours and hours
She was exiled under the sun
Chapped lips & broken dreams
A girl and a victim of such cruel things

In her chaos
She found a dagger
an escape to the world
But a cheat to her life

She held it up with her hand
And looked at the sun
“You will no longer hear my cries
But let this be my dying wish:

My soul I devote, for the dreams that cannot be
Please bring me out there, up in the open nightsky
Where thoughts run wild and free
Where I could just be.

If my dream is indeed gone
Then let me be the new hope
Let me be the guiding light
For the souls lost out in your glow.”

She drew the dragger
Closed her eyes
She was breathing with no breath
Until It struck her heart

For a moment she felt her own agony
The pain, the fears, the broken dreams
The endured thorns of her soul, a tear
Eyes opened and she was no longer.

The people knew of her misfortune
And thought she died from distress
But little did they know
She has only been re birthed from the ashes

Come midnight,
Behold, there it was
The moon which was gone
Now an alluring glory from afar

The people were left in awe
And thought the girl became the moon
The night has become an enigma
A difficult beauty to swoon

But after a few seconds
Something stellar bloomed from above
One and then another
Everyone, came gasping in wonder

"What is that thing up there
A thousand diamonds in the sky?”
̴Such ecstasy it gives!”
“I want to touch it, I want to fly!”

The people who feared the night
Now lied below to tell its stories
Always and often in wonder
If it was because of she

And up in the midnight
In the peak of the clock
They let their thoughts wonder
Of the majestic light up above

Soon they forgot about the girl
And of her lost dreams from afar
Instead there were these fascinating wonders
A magic which they named, the stars.

The lightning will flash
so thunder can pound
but I know that I
know I am safe and sound.

Although I do wish that
you weren't quite so far
because things would be
warmer if I were with my star.

I miss you night and day
I wish things weren't this way
so maybe I'd know the truth
and what you meant to say.

The wind will blow
so the drops can fall
but I'm alright even
though this place is small.

God wouldn't let me
die just because a storm
surly he wouldn't take me
before she is born.

She will be good,
she will grow up strong
as soon as this passes
and I hear a better song.

Love, come find us,
we've always waited here
get to us please
we're losing to fear.

The lightning will flash
so the thunder can pound
but this time I don't think
we are safe or sound.

That sound we make when noses itch inside.
We breathe in deeply, shut eyes, noses hide.
The squeal, "AH CHOO!" sounding like loud trains.
"Bless you," and "Thank you," our friends and we say.

Insert from the new children's book "SWEET SERENITY"
"COMING SOON"


Sometimes in the night her frozen voice would crack
In the tight mountain hedge, she could hear the horse’s hooves
just knowing the princess was coming to snack
a sad tale unwinding , that so many could meet....

A spell wonder to a nonchalant breeze,
stood the princess wanting to succeed
a beautiful hidden disaster, the dragon was to come
fragments of her shattered life once more will become ...

Prism wonder frozen to the core
ice castles hidden from many an eyes sore
stood the dragon in all his beauty just waiting to succeed
in walked the princess not knowing the deed ...

Here my pretty eat the HONEY tonight
tomorrow you will be happy as a lark
disappearing towers ancient and tall
would swallow the princess once and for all ...

Reckless deeds neglect and hate
looking in the mirror to find her fate
Asleep falls the princess so sweet
as laughter and the Beie, our sweet honeybees
cry and plan to escape ...

Continue, as she would fly down the dragon’s path
to her surprise meeting the prince's wrath
one little kiss melted the arctic thaw
the princess was awake and a little raw......