By the guppy
Date: 22 December 1999

race to the top

a punctured poet, sitting pretty, signing autographs on top a wall
humpty dumpty down below, and osha workers take notes on it all
a string of pigtailed girls climbing with harnesses and safety nets
and casa novas staying true to them, but also placing bets
mr. dumpty and i are laughing about the good old days
about how things always seem to fade, but never really go away
he asks to bum a cigarette 
i kindly light it for him
then ignore him
'cause he changed the subject
and the pace
i can't erase it now
the rhythm just fell off somehow
fell headlong off another of those giant walls
who's kingdom is this anyway
why would anyone ever have the need to speedily erect a million walls
build more of them, and build them higher, so people can't fall off them
but just in case some reach the top, best have a fresh supply of sturdy coffins
dumpty's raising eyebrows at me now
muttering expletives
flashing gestures
pointing out that the cardboard cut-out decoy i forgot about
just might be a very bad thing for a pigtailed girl to find out
after making such an effort, taking such a risky climb
guess i have to learn to scale my own defenses very quickly
i hope i can get there in time...