#533 - attempting a crocodile haiku

 

18.vi.21

533

2.166

attempting a crocodile haiku at the zoo

or

say salty’s amazement

 

the old croc

a jaw drop

plonk

 

you’d think?

just sitting for now

maxilla mandible muscle

 

codger in the brothel

table of jungle baize

could be solitaire

 

imagine all this while open

lovely handbag, shoes

drop jaw dead lovely

 

can you imagine that ache?

 

the crocodile is following

the thermoregulations

or some say cooling, like this

 

who will say ugly

when perfect in its place?

as since the Eocene

 

this is the salty’s meditation

rack of nails for a back

will you lie there?

dare

want a wrestle?

 

get a microphone in all the way

really know what they think

 

a winch-down mandible

slipped into sleep

16460 newtons of bite force

who has the leisure to count?

 

the old dentition

busted on bone

briskly bettered

 

petitioners

as in duty bound

all prey

 

this jaw for nought

reminds me of the politician

about to make a statement

camera gathering

won’t even get ‘no comment’

doesn’t blink

 

the old croc

on the plonk

is just now sleeping it off

 

there’s the bellowing of course

when males gather

the coughing threat, the hatching call

 

open jaws are the crocodile dreaming

 

palm frond wing slap overstory

such are the jealous events of the air

here’s lowlife

and after a dive

 

for indigestion

your crocodile is an excellent sitter

 

a lurk and splash

the old frond

falls to pieces

 

though often absent

when charging from the water

(twelve meters per second)

 

but this now is the croc’s reflection

 

jungle one day and again

trip over this stillness

much to mull

 

through glass

the crocodile gets whiff of me

pre-carcass

 

look away to make an observation

and like the angels closer

all grin too

more teeth where they came from

 

they can and do make tears though

 

just a slight lowering, note

     commentators call

last dinosaur, cut down to size

requires no mighty roar

(think of the hatchlings’ chirp)

 

old croc at the pond

a toothy drop cooloff

slip in bellybuster plonk

 

ready only when that jaw’s

all the way down

then

we’ll play a game

called snap