The Skeleton of Peter the Dwarf
It's hard to be a hydrocephalic.
54 inches, head to toe.
(27 from my chin to scalp alone;
that makes me a marvel.)
Washington came to see me
(the man, not the city; or, maybe, the city is the man).
He looked at me, marveled at me;
inactivity was my answer.
I floated along, day to day,
endlessly rocking,
loving Jesus and preacher's conversation,
swelling with pride at the show I could provide.
It was hard for me to move,
my head being so huge,
but I got by without going out;
keeping to the cerebral.
My head's got its own box now,
it's lost all its water!
So now they say, "That skull is a marvel!"
never about the parts of me everyone's had.
What I never told in my time
was that, more than theology or phrenology,
all I ever wanted out of life
was to not shit in my cradle.
A tiny outhouse with plenty of headroom,
straps to hold me up and a stand
from which I could read
my Bible or a dirty magazine.
Now they've ripped me apart,
half in one box, half elsewhere.
So now, if bowels move in death,
I'll never know this simple joy.
gbs 9-22-06
6 comments:
Last line's still not working, Schwitters. It ought not be that way.
And now I've changed it again. It's better and probably no one but me saw it. But it's still not working.
as always, my advice is excise! also, the current reading seems to be contradictory - the marvel of pete's skeleton is that he can avoid shitting in his cradle, right? - at least, by not shitting with his head. the phrasing at present seems uncertain of this. what about...sheesh, i don't know. i'll say this, though: i really dig his 'dream' - and maybe your ending, in some way, is with that thread.
What? I'm confused.
me too...i shouldn't have posted right before i went to bed. i suppose my criticism is this: what if you found a way to put the climax of the poem back where he states his dream not to shit in his cradle - it might take a little finnagling, but i think the poem would be stronger. your thoughts?
suggestion, conversely:
my head's got its own box now,
it's lost all its water!
and now they say my skull is a marvel! -
but they say nothing of the parts of me everyone's had.
also: i tried again at the last stanza...and i still have no idea what to do about that. perhaps its symbolic?
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