Bill Turner
Tantrum Time
This tiny person drumming up a fury
seems old enough to know better,
young enough to be coming to the boil
before I can blow out the match.
What can have upset her?
Stamping her dainty foot
she shivers my timbers into dry rot.
Her shrieks stiffen the wallpaper
making petrified paste cascade
its speeded-up shifting sands
all the way down to the basement mice.
Like a capering alarm clock
she hops about, refusing to be
consoled, while windows shudder.
She clenches each delicate fist
and undersea divers turn deep blue
with windpipes cut off.
She mouths rude words,
makes forked-finger gestures:
so lightning strikes the Vatican.
Holy smoke, this is serious!
She kicks out at her family tree,
dislodging a quorum of chimpanzees
who scratch shaggy heads, peering
nervously, as she rips fabric apart.
Now, what’s the world coming to?
It’s all this modern education.
Young people nowadays
just don’t appreciate.
But if you ask me, it’s high time
someone gathered up this tiny person
and gave her a severe cuddle.
seems old enough to know better,
young enough to be coming to the boil
before I can blow out the match.
What can have upset her?
Stamping her dainty foot
she shivers my timbers into dry rot.
Her shrieks stiffen the wallpaper
making petrified paste cascade
its speeded-up shifting sands
all the way down to the basement mice.
Like a capering alarm clock
she hops about, refusing to be
consoled, while windows shudder.
She clenches each delicate fist
and undersea divers turn deep blue
with windpipes cut off.
She mouths rude words,
makes forked-finger gestures:
so lightning strikes the Vatican.
Holy smoke, this is serious!
She kicks out at her family tree,
dislodging a quorum of chimpanzees
who scratch shaggy heads, peering
nervously, as she rips fabric apart.
Now, what’s the world coming to?
It’s all this modern education.
Young people nowadays
just don’t appreciate.
But if you ask me, it’s high time
someone gathered up this tiny person
and gave her a severe cuddle.
Page(s) 59
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