The comic convention
has cardboard cutouts of
all of the main characters of
Harry Potter.

Harry,
Ron,
Hermione,
etc.
All motionless in a river of people,
glossy but worn down,
bathed in cold white halogen.

And one by one,
the cosplayers—
the Harrys
Rons
Hermiones,
etc.

Have their pictures taken
with the cutouts,
one cardboard cutout cut out
and replaced with a real human being.

Being human, we
crave companionship,
fear solitude,
crave solitude,
fear companionship.

We try to avoid becoming cardboard
cutouts of ourselves, but sometimes
a retreat into inanimacy
is what the animus needs.

The cosplayers continue to shuffle forward in line
each waiting to pose for a selfie.  Each
politely smiling at the living Harry Potter characters around them,

but not striking up a conversation.

2 naughty teenagers captured in the psych ward


all people who do crimes are mental, at least that is what ron thought as

he watched the news and saw 2 teenagers push a train seat onto the traffic

under the bridge and ron thought that he would like to place them on medication

so they can be punished for what they did, so when ron woke up, ron went to the

cafe to say his piece about the teenagers who pushed the seat out the window,

and after he left, he felt better but it soon went away as he arrived at the HDU and

the group of teenagers were on their way to his HDU, and ron said, yeah they need

medication but they will be a hard case, because they probably believe what they were doing

was the right thing to do, but the nurses said, no they are on their way here and we are going

to give them all the help they need and ron said, we will try to give those trouble makers the

help they need, because the medication won’t work if they don’t want it, and believe me it needs

to work, they must learn what they did was wrong.   ron went out to give the morning medications

and the teenagers entered the HDU as ron was finished and ron said i am going to talk with these yahoos

so can you bring this back, and when ron approached them he said, ok, you guys think you did the right thing

by pushing that seat outside the train door onto incoming traffic, and john who was the ring leader said yeah

it was what this city needs, and then ken who videoed it said, that was the most fun he ever had and ron said

well, if that was the most fun you had, you area very sick individual and we need to have a chat on why you

think that it is cool to do that, john said, my dad doesn’t care for me and he loves the railways, perhaps he loves

the railways more than me, so i wanted to spoil his precious railways and ron said, i am sure your father loves you

but it’s hard to love you when you do a stupid thing like this, you could’ve caused an accident and killed many people

and john said, who cares, and ron said, yeah you are sick if you think taking out your aggressions on those poor drivers

and ken said, you haven’t met his father, all he cares about is his trips on the railways than him, he once yelled at john

for accidentally spilling the milk and i was there to see it, but ron said but is what you did hurting your father, well maybe but

you could’ve killed many people who were driving and john said ******* fucken ****, you are supposed to make me better

but instead you point out that i was in the wrong, and then john said, you know nothing about us, we are not mental, we are real

men dealing with stupid parents and ron said, ok i can’t keep you on the medication but while yopu guys are here you are taking

medication and ken said, cool, we are finally taking drugs, and then ken said how about you guys give me ****** or mariguana, that

will make us good little angels and ron said nice try, i will place you on seroquel, which really will open your brain and make me understand

why you kids would do such a horrible crime, and then ron asked john, have you seen the macauley culkin flick, the good son, well you

yahoos are just like him, maybe worst because it’s the real world and john said, are we just, well just for that we won’t take your ******

medication, and we will make it harder for you are your nurses as well as any other patient who gets in our way and we will tip the water over you

when you bring out our medications, because what we did was fun, and we ain’t mental, there is nothing wrong with us and ron said, well guys, if

you don’t take the medication, you won’t get better and be released from here, and ken said, we will escape from here, you see we will grab the

keys from a nurse or yourself, and then pick up a sharp object, and you screws will never see us cool dudes again, and ron said, do you guys really

think this was cool, you could’ve killed somebody and ron went away and told the nurses, to have a security guard with them when you go into the HDU

and keep no sharp objects in their way because these yahoos need to understand what they did.     john and ken went to watch TV  and charlie chaplin was

watching cheers and ken said i want to watch ben 10 and charlie said, no, cheers is better and ken said, listen you fucken ******, get out of here so we can watch

ben 10 and charlie said ******* you fucken yahoos, i was here first and john walked over to him and picked him up and said, hey ******, are you going to move

or are we going to kick you out you old fogie life loving ****** and ron came out with a security guard saying, you guys aren’t the boss here and ron brought

ken and john to their rooms and locked them in saying, you don’t get to watch your show boo hoo and john and ken yelled out help help kidnap kidnap

help help kidnap kidnap but ron took no notice of them and went back to get the medications, for everyone even for john and ken despite them not wanting it

but both john and ken took the medication but declared they ain’t mental but they want to be free, and once we get free, we will stop taking the medication

because they ain’t crazy, they just wanted to get out of the ***** loving HDU and ken said to ron, don’t ever talk to us ok, we ain’t talking to no screws, you might

be helping the other patients but you can’t help us, so we will make you happy to take your happy drug, and be goodie two shoe so we can be free and ron

gave them the medication and went to his office and clocked off and bought pizza and retired to the couch while john and ken practiced being good despite wanting

to call charlie chaplin and patty roe retards but they bit their tongue, john and ken aren’t unhappy for what they did, they still thought it was cool but to be free to

do it again was what they were thinking of and that was what ron was worried about and that messed with ron’s brain making him say i am here to help but john and ken

were just bad people and can’t be cured, ron thought maybe jail might be better for them, oh well we have to give them a chance, they are only young

I’ll tell you a story
That wanders all lands; about a poet
He goes by Ron an ordinary name
But this is not just any old Ron
This is THE Don Juan of all the Rons

He crafts Savory words
His methods arcane
Each ingredient withdrawn
From the mountain’s vein

These words are concocted and
Arranged just so that an optic banquet
Has been prepared
For you to behold

A feast for the eye, heart, and mind
An ambrosic delicacy
Of the most Savory kind

It all started with a little green book
That was read aloud to me
And the title of this book
Was the giving tree

And I loved it so much
That I asked for more
Pete the cat and rainbow fish
Cluttered my playroom floor

And as I grew a little bit older
So did the books that I was read
The wind in the willows and romana age eight
Were read to me in bed

Then there was rascal
and winnie the phoo
And as I grew older still
Spy school was there too

Then the most glorious thing happened
I found my first book!
I could read if I tyred
All I had to do was look

But it took me two weeks
To make even a dent
I had to give it back to library
I ran out of the time I was lent

And mary pope osborns
Blizzard of the blue moon
Was so hard to read
It had me feeling like a loon

and if I couldn’t read
A book about A magic tree house
Then how could I even read
Stuart the mouse

So I gave up reading for myself
And my dad read to me instead
I heard so many stores
Before I went to bed

There was Narnia
And all of its wondrous tales
There was Harry Potter’s magic
Rons Utter fails

And then a day came
Where I picked up a book
And I opened it up
And all it took was a look!

I was reading the book
All by myself
There was no body there
There was no one to help

H.G. wells was my favorite
There was no dout in my mind
That it was the way that the book was
It was its own special kind

But I soon came to find
That the time machine was not the only one
I read rascal with eas
It was all said and done

Then I wanted more
And more came for me
I could read by myself!
I could do what I please!

Then I read more spy school
And Then Percy Jackson too
I went through that phays
And I know you did too

Then I read this book
It only took me four days!
The fourth book of percy jackson
Was done in a haze!

And then there was Cinder
That I finished in three
That book series will always be
Special to me

And then the book
That left me in a daze
488 pages
In three fateful days

The school for good and evil
Put me on a spree
I was reading books faster
Than I could possibly be

I ran out of room on my shelf
I ran out of room on the floor
But still as I read
I was left craving more!

Let the sky fall in three
And Sunkissed in two
The selection in three
There was nothing I couldn’t do!

I cried over One degree of freedom
And wicked king left me aghast
I even read in the night
My bedtime long past

It so happened when
I was looking at my shelf one day
When I heard a little Fwomp
And too my dismay

The books around me came
Crashing down
One by one
They all hit the ground

And as I stood there in anger
Wishing that I could die
Something on the floor
Caught my eye

And as I took a better look
My eyes opened with glee
It was the little green book
That was read to me at age three

And then I realize
As I look at that book
That what it gave too me
Wasn't necessarily what I took

This little green book
Gave me who I am now
That is all I have to say
That is my final bow