Cheery-Eyed Jackdaws
Cheery-eyed jackdaws screech
The testament of change.
Mother Nature, like a dominating madam,
Clad in tight leather and chain,
Cracks her whip bringing the seasons
To heel in submission.
Spent summer yields to
The fickle days of autumn.
Forests burst into a splendor of color
Only to taunt us by slipping into
A dismal, bleak world reminisant of
A sick mind and severed ear.
On impulse, I dive headlong into a pile of leaves.
Laughing and thrashing about,
I am shocked back to reality when
Beaten with rakes by angry yard workers.
I had forgotten the second rule of leaf diving:
Thou shalt not dive ‘uninvited’
Into the leaf piles of strangers.
The first rule, I learned the hard way:
Thou shalt not dive into piles of burning leaves.
Damn you, Proserpina!
Could you NOT, at lest, TRY
The seedless grapes!
As I stomp on pomegranate after pomegranate,
With the on-looking super market night manager
Fumbling with his phone….calling God knows who.
I realize that it is all Pluto’s fault
And swear to kick his ass.
Mickey’s and Donald’s too, if need be.
Autumn…such a difficult time.
But, soon winter will follow.
Full of tomfoolery and too excited to wait for snow,
I pull off one of my shoes.
Pretending it a snowball, I throw it…
Knocking the hat off a policeman.
He is not amused,
But gives me a ride in his squad car anyway.
©2021 Daniel S. Irwin All rights reserved.
Daniel S. Irwin was born, raised, and is back in town at Sparta, Illinois. His card reads: Artist, Actor, Writer, Soldier, Scholar, Priest. He has won awards for his art, acting (over 100 films and 30+ stage productions), writing (nine books and work published in over one hundred magazines and journals world-wide), retired military (Air Force and Army), graduate of Southern Illinois University/Carbondale and has attended four other universities), and is an ordained Dudeist priest with a Ph.D. in Divinity (not bad for a heathen). Once worked as a medic in an institution for the criminally insane…but didn’t notice anything strange about the inmates. Latest on-line work can be found on Horror, Sleaze, Trash Magazine and Beatnik Cowboy. He would love to move back to Europe but fears the plague.
