"Dust Factory" by Cleveland Wall
With fretting and scratching,
my industry generates
wool pills whose use
is yet undiscovered.
They cling to my side
not daring to venture forth.
I generate dandruff
which launches off
the top of my head
but quails and settles
about my shoulders— alas,
not for sheer love of me.
But I am diligent all day
manufacturing these things
and pilgrims come:
a bit of tape, say,
befriended by lint or fallen hair,
comes seeking harbor,
poor lost thing,
and the chance to ride
for a while. These incidentals
accompany me wherever I go,
so we’re never lonely
except on wash days.
"Corsage for Myself" by Cleveland Wall
If you were a clown, you would be
an insane clown!
If you were a helicopter, you would be
an insane helicopter!
But if you were a flavor, you’d be
tutti frutti—
and become everyone’s favorite.
Yes, you preening thing,
naughty as you are, you are
a splendid fountaining April
champagne and the rain
is your personal muse
and coiffeur, so
chin up, baby! You still are the star
of this movie: ripe tomato
of a cult classic fecklessly lobbed
to the freaks of the future.
"Feel-Good" by Cleveland Wall
At the end of the movie
the bad man mends
his ways and now
he’s a big lug; we like
him just as much
as the guy who was good
in the first place, because
the change is so
dramatic—but:
Wouldn’t it be better
if he were simply
crushed by a log?