it's always the same old quicksand,
but hold still, and enough suns will dry you loose.
On the other hand,
Sock Monkey has been moving up for years.
He never gave a big green shit who he had to screw in order to rise.
But now?
He's just hanging on.
The thing about the future is, that it's so uncertain.
Try the dart board.
Check out the Ouija.
Ex-Mrs. Sock Monkey cleaned him out,
took the kids,
the cash,
the floor beneath his soft round feet.
A lot of things can be overcome,
but some suck the soul right out of anybody.
Wood veneer crushes initiative.
Bad wallpaper encourages self-harm.
Ugly armchairs send anybody to the madhouse.
Behold, Sock Monkey,
suspended like a cartoon character, cliffside, with branch.
If he lets go, he lands on the desk of Edwin Albert Peach, CPA,
his future forfeit, himself, a debit never to be recouped.
So, Mister Monkey,
go wild,
ask the Ouija a question.
You'll have to let go, to touch the planchette,
but c'mon, make a leap of faith.
You are a monkey, after all.
See the future revealed.
YES
we have no
bananas.
NO
you'll never get her back--
Mrs. Monkey.
Day-oh
Day-ay-ay-oh.
Day, de light, and you'll never go home.
_____
for Mag 221. This whole scene, with its dreary browns and defeated decor, screamed 1970s divorced dad pad.
Clever abstraction of an extraction from this overstuffed picture. :-)
ReplyDeleteGood grief. I thought that might be a picture of a thrift store, it's so loaded up with crap.
ReplyDeleteYour poem perfectly (and hilariously at times) fit the photo perfectly.
Jeezle! One too many "perfectlys." Sorry.
ReplyDeleteLife is hard for Sock Monkeys, taken from their natural environment of chewing gum on the bedpost and greasy kid-hugs that soon turn to bored indifference. They're expected to live normal lives, but the accountants always get them in the end.(I have that cement urn, btw, the one under the bookshelf, but not in the house cuz, that is for lost, divorced fabric primates.)
ReplyDeletelove your imagination. :)
ReplyDeleteThis made my day. What a response to the picture... If there was a story to tell you told it with wit, delicately flavoured with sarcasm. My favourite recipe for a good belly laugh.
ReplyDeleteBless the sock monkey and his little soft round feet.
I had to smile at your closing lines
ReplyDeleteThat opening stanza is profound. One reads it quickly, lightly, then goes, "whoa! that is deep!" The length of time it takes to release oneself from the quicksand of the past. The bad wallpaper and ugly armchairs are hilarious. The entire final stanza has me grinning from ear to ear - and wondering, how do you DO this? day after day, year after year, your mind is so full of amazements.
ReplyDeleteThat monkey and I seem to share similar destinies.
You are so clever in your twisting of expectations to awaken and delight!
ReplyDeleteAm I allowed to feel a little sorry for the sock-monkey?... :-)
ReplyDeleteAm I allowed to feel a little sorry for the sock-monkey?... :-)
ReplyDeleteCleverrrrrrrrrr!
ReplyDeleteLove the story...You interpreted the photo perfectly. I never thought about the hard reality of a sock monkey. :)
ReplyDeleteHa Ha! no, of course its not funny, reaching, falling, being dead and gone from anyone's ledger--but it's a sock monkey! Poor sock, lonely, separated from its true mate. And Ouija boards are evil, stay far far away.
ReplyDeleteNO ONE else in the universe could have looked at the image and come close to concocting what you did! One of my top ten favorite FB poems!
ReplyDeleteWhat a witty, clever write.....enjoyed every line.
ReplyDeletesick monkey, sock monkey, no money, no money ~
ReplyDeleteWell done. Very creative
ReplyDeletehilariously and hysterically cleverrrrrr!
ReplyDeletereally enjoyed this.
ReplyDeletelove the personification of the sock monkey, perfect writing to the picture prompt!
stacy lynn mar
http://warningthestars.blogspot.com/
This is extremely clever! The sock monkey lives on!
ReplyDeletethis seems only appropriate. you know, sock monkeys are soooo in! possibly so in that they are on their way out. good thing you memorialized them here.
ReplyDeleteThis is so perfectly only Shay!
ReplyDeleteOoh, great line: "hold still, and enough suns will dry you loose"
ReplyDeleteAnd this one: "Wood veneer crushes initiative."
You had me at the title.
ReplyDeleteYou won me with that first verse.
ReplyDeleteI love it. There are some parts of my past from which I keep hoping the sun will "dry me loose."
The other line I loved was:"The thing about the future is, that it's so uncertain." This is all too true.
It took me awhile to get the "sock monkey." I'm kind of like where is Shay going with this one until I really studied the picture. Well done, my friend:~)
Such a clever angle to take - the sock monkey...loved it.
ReplyDeleteSuch a smart poem. Really liked it.
ReplyDelete=)
Oh! Another sock monkey...now I must dig mine up...
ReplyDelete