Bob Lucky


Metamorphosis

My caterpillar is missing and the police are dragging their feet. All the photos I’ve provided, as well as 
a comb and a toothbrush for DNA, as well as the cocoon to give tracking dogs his scent, have disappeared 
into an archive so secret no one can find it. You might want to be careful, I tell the police, you’ve never 
seen a butterfly like this. I haven’t either, but I’ve got hope.



Into the Thickets


(Based on “Woods, A Prose Sonnet” by Ralph Waldo Emerson.)


Drought

The rain dance failed again. Everyone went home thirsty. I stopped to buy you flowers, but all the flowers 
were dead. The florist had a pile of pigeons on one side and a few chickens on the other. I asked her for 
a bouquet of feathers. You know, she said, I have a list of the lists I’ve made since I began making lists. 
I didn’t know what to say. That’s impressive. I just resemble myself the older I get. She didn’t charge me 
anything for the bouquet.



Wonderful


(Based on Walt Whitman’s [Who Learns My Lesson Complete], from Leaves of Grass.)

Off to India: a Prose Poem Cento

In October and April the heat is apt to be severe in the Red Sea and at the ports of arrival and departure. Visitors will find that educated Indians speak the language exceedingly well. As elsewhere in the world, the traveller will have to supply himself constantly with a sufficiency of small change. In order to cross unbridged rivers which are passable by fords and ferries, a car with good clearance is a desideratum. It is, however, a mistake to think that very little clothing tends to coolness. The minimum equipment is a pillow, a good razai (cotton-wadded quilt) and a couple of warm blankets, or, still better, an eider-down, with pillow-cases, cheap cotton sheets, and a light blanket. Ladies may travel with an accredited man-servant without hesitation, and will find him more useful than an áyáh in almost all respects. The list of routes given on pp. xiii-xvi will, it is believed, enable travellers to decide for themselves. The difference with regard to the local times (if kept) should be borne in mind. Village milk or water should NEVER be drunk until it has been thoroughly boiled, preferably under supervision. Raw fruit is better avoided at dinner-time. Excessive bodily exertion and consequent fatigue should be avoided by all who are no longer young. Antelope shooting in thickly populated areas is dangerous. If white ants are about, boxes should be raised on stones and carpets should be shifted every morning. The National Book Council has issued a list.

(Based on A Handbook for Travellers in India and Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon, including the Portuguese and French Possessions and the Indian States. “Introductory Information, (I) General Hints,” xvii-xxvii. John Murray, 16^th edition, 1949.)




Bob Lucky is the author of Ethiopian Time (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2014), Conversation Starters in a Language No One Speaks (SurVision Books, 2018), My Thology: Not Always True But Always Truth (Cyberwit, 2019). His work has appeared in Rattle, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Otoliths, and other journals. He lives in Portugal.

 
 

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