04-04-2017, 06:22 AM
My Hero!
Apple-cheeked
(hell, apple-headed)
corncob pipe clenched irremovably
ferocious squint that spoke
of scanning far horizons or
rope-ends and fists
bow-legs not from sagebrush horses
but eternal sea-legs
anchors tattooed
on the forearms.
Forearms! Forty years
of pulling ropes
sheeting home
round turns on belaying pins
and capstan quadrilles
packed those brachioradialises
although the happy musics of his pipe
in animated scenes
betoken steam and boilers
but a stoker? Never!
(Well, hardly ever.)
Jolly chucklehead
not always smart, obedient
slow to fury but
when triggered by combatants like
bristly Bluto, Sea Hag, or
Imperial Japanese Navy
his righteous anger served out
fists of steel and dynamite.
And he was green
in his own way, raw or mainly canned
loaded with iron and, my doctor said
oxalic acid which endows
not strength but kidney stones
like mine. Stay off the stuff?
No dice, doc. I’ll chomp spinach
like my hero - what’s a little groaning
mortal agony? Arf, arf!
Apple-cheeked
(hell, apple-headed)
corncob pipe clenched irremovably
ferocious squint that spoke
of scanning far horizons or
rope-ends and fists
bow-legs not from sagebrush horses
but eternal sea-legs
anchors tattooed
on the forearms.
Forearms! Forty years
of pulling ropes
sheeting home
round turns on belaying pins
and capstan quadrilles
packed those brachioradialises
although the happy musics of his pipe
in animated scenes
betoken steam and boilers
but a stoker? Never!
(Well, hardly ever.)
Jolly chucklehead
not always smart, obedient
slow to fury but
when triggered by combatants like
bristly Bluto, Sea Hag, or
Imperial Japanese Navy
his righteous anger served out
fists of steel and dynamite.
And he was green
in his own way, raw or mainly canned
loaded with iron and, my doctor said
oxalic acid which endows
not strength but kidney stones
like mine. Stay off the stuff?
No dice, doc. I’ll chomp spinach
like my hero - what’s a little groaning
mortal agony? Arf, arf!
Non-practicing atheist