Sexy East Coat Al Lewis (or, Ma’s Under the Iceaxes, I think…)

I / THAT WHICH IS LOST

Somewhere, I suspect

Under the antique

Russian flying helmets,

Or perhaps it’s behind the iceaxes,

Ma reposes.

She disappeared for nearly 24 years,

Her whereabouts mysterious,

Coyly calling up

At regular intervals to say

Isn’t it time, son,

To rehabilitate yer beloved

Spelunking, mine-exploring,

Sam Cisco based,

CCAC student of a mater,

Who came upon murderhood

Quite by accident,

The result of a V-J celebration

That went on until

Zero Wee Hours

In the foggy night?

She’d never stoop to

Resorting to such a

Run-on sentence as shamelessly herself,

Of course, being an art design

Standout from the artsy post-bohemian herd

At CCAC, across the Bay.

II / THAT WHICH IS LOST STILL LOST

I surmise that The circumstances of

Her ethereal disappearance

Had nothing at all

To do with

Sexy East Coast Al Lewis,

An old flame,

Who after all, didn’t even know her.

It was more probably the result of

Some unresolved

Edible Complex,

Or mebbe a bumpy camel ride

Her mother had taken in Egypt

Back when it was still safe to

Be a Mercan Gringo female

In Mohammedland.

Anyway, Ma stayed hidden

For 24 years

Until one morning

After staring at the line-up of

Departed furry children

Atop the bookcase

It dawned on me like a Pacific sunrise

That she probably

Deserved to be located,

Despite her having abandoned

Her only progenic chille

One hot Idaho summer day

When the roof of

That damned silver mine

Up near Ketchum

Collapsed on her, thus ending

A lifetime of esoterica and arcanica

And leaving

That pore bewildered orphink

Forever marooned in the airless vacuum of

Her absent murderly luv

To ponder why.

III / A MIRACULOUS RESURRECTION

Sure enough,

Sitting near the floor

On a shelf with old rubber oxygen masks,

Squeezing out from

Behind a rare titanium alloy

Russian iceaxe,

Ma suddenly appeared,

Though a mere ghost of her former seff.

Brushing off 24 years of

Accumulated dust and dog dander,

Without a word

Or a 4th dimensional glance

She took her place

Atop the shelf,

Near Sooka-dog and

A statue of Dr. I. Jones

Of Marshall College,

Who probably didn’t

Do half the things

Ma had

In her very real life of

Adventure. I think she would

Like the view from up there

And the protective comradeship

Of her adjacent woofy buddies

When it gets dark

And cold

At night.

Yup.