The Ballad of Banana and the Big Yellow House

The bursting fields of the prairie
Feed every man and mouse
And all who eat the grain and meat
Sleep it off in the big yellow house.

If you pass through Bloomington
Wanting roof or roots or rue
Find Ann Banan on Fess Ave
And tell her Doug or the wind sent you.

You'll find the softest couches,
And dark wood holds the walls
Warm blankets, floors and company
Where every renegade calls.

There's grouchy teens, full of beans
And mischievous kids next door.
There's college kids around the block-
Who knows what they're there for.

There's bread and cheese in the kitchen
And with luck a tomato or two
Take your sandwich to the front porch swing
And rest up fro and to.

Watch a movie with Banana,
And talk the whole way through
You can watch the same one
The next night, as if it were new.

All the gold in Indiana

As lucky hitch-hikers found

Are the yellow house and Annie

Shining after they've burnt down.

Happy birthday, Bananie!

Happy birthday to my nephew, Jacob

9 monkeys in the jungle are a baby's dream
But nine in a field make a baseball team.
The morn was bright, the winds were mild
The score was tied, the pitch was wild
The mother monkeys in the stands stood up but not to scream.

Jake took second and Jake took third,
Jacob took the plate without a word
He dusted his bat against the plate
And raised it up above his pate
And narrowed his eyes until they blurred.

The first pitch came, outside and high
And Jacob let the ball go by.
The second pitch hit the catcher's mitt
One ball, one strike, the batter spit.
And thought of a banana split.

The third pitch came in low and fast
And Jacob swung the bat right past.
Two strikes down, two outs, what's more
Two Jakes on base ready to score
And Jacob gave the ball a blast.

Up it sailed, and over and far
"Home run!" monkey's uncles cried from the bar
But the ump picked up Jacob's bat
And wiped the middle on his hat
And declared he'd found too much pine tar.

The thing to know, or maybe not,
About monkey baseball when it's hot:
Games are won and some are lost
And cheating always has a cost
But monkey scandals are soon forgot.

Ogre Day 2012*

A mourning wind keens down the vale,
And fails, then fades then dies.
A bolt of fire breaks the skies
Leaving only echoes from it's trail.

And they that sit unheard and crying
Are they forgotten and alone?
Those whom solitude has known
Find plates for two satisfying.

*Ogre Day, the day after Valentine's Day, has been celebrated since the middle ages of blogging.  It is a day to remember the uncoupled and uncloned.