Man Giveth and Taketh Away
The matador gave the dandelion the right of way
But it was a trap
And waited and waited and had a cup of tea
And had his cape pressed too.
The medicine man showed up in his station wagon
Administered the dandelion amphetamines, espresso beans,
Pep talks and ephedrine,
A poem about God carrying people on the beach in pamphlet form
And after 3 more weeks the dandelion crept through
Glorious in its mane of stars
And the matador grabbed his sword and cape
And tiptoed across the asphalt
To maintain the element of surprise
But before he could raise the blade
The groundskeeper erased the dandelion with his turbo mower
Novelty balls dangling from its rear bumper.
2 thoughts on "Man Giveth and Taketh Away"
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What a wildly unexpected ending! I enjoyed that a lot!
Holy cow. What a wild, surreal imagination you have! Those opening lines are arresting, and just when I think the poem is settling down into a kind of realism, while the matador sips his tea, here comes the medicine man with meds for a dandelion. Once you get to the dandelion’s mane of stars, I start reading this as an origin story for a constellation, although I doubt that there’s an actual dandelion constellation. This kicked me right in the novelty balls. Well done.