THE ROLLERCOASTER

As the monstrous, white-washed, frame appears,
I begin balking at continuing on
knowing a gut-wrenching time is ahead.
Clickety, clack, clickety, clack.

All too soon I’m there
sitting in the last car and strapping in.
Second thoughts are still plaguing my mind.
Clickety, clack, clickety, clack.

It’s too late to turn back now.
My spine is sinking into the seat back
as the car creeps up the first steep hill.
Clickety, clack, clickety, clack.

The cars start speeding up
announcing the upcoming near vertical drop.
My mind goes blank and my knuckles go white.
Clickety, clack, clickety, clack.

My stomach rises somewhere above me.
While I’m praying for God’s deliverance,
all I can manage is a high pitched A-A-A-A-AH.
Clickety, clack, clickety, clack.

Then come the turns.
Right, left, and upside-down,
the heart-stopping tension continues.
Clickety, clack, clickety, clack.

Relief finally comes at the end of the ride.
I hate rollercoasters, they’re not for me.
But “Daddy,” he says, “can we go again?”
Clickety, clack, clickety, clack.


PROGRESS??

Think of how the world would be
without factories or cars,
without smog or street lamps
to hide the heaven’s stars.

Remember all the vivid flowers
and the forests’ lush greenery,
now pushed back to the horizon
by man’s concrete scenery.

Memories of the rolling hills
and of amber waves of grain,
have been replaced by spacious malls
which make our wallets strain.

As children, we would play outside,
having good, clean, wholesome fun,
but now the only way to go
is with drugs or a loaded gun!

And forget not the glory
of America’s free-waving flag,
now treated with all indignity,
as no more than a rag.

Do you think this is progress,
as many seem to say
or is it just a speechless sign
of this country’s quickening decay?

Progress??




THE POSSUM’S DECISION

Did you ever feel like a possum
standing in the middle of the road
while a monstrous eighteen-wheeler
bears down with its heavy load?

Completely frozen by fear
and blinded by the oncoming light,
you couldn’t figure out how to turn,
not knowing which way was right.

Onward the monster kept rumbling
so you needed to do something fast!
You took some steps to the left,
hoping they weren’t your last.

You’d have made it through quite safely
except for the oncoming car,
making you the day’s newest main course
at the Road Kill Cafe and Bar!