Off The Richter Scale Poem by Mary Champion

Sows and cows stampeded in terror,
sensing the danger ahead of the seismographs
when the stress became too much
and the San Andreas Fault defaulted.

Hens, peacefully sleeping in the chicken-shed,
were scattered unceremoniously-
feathers flying, clucking insanely
as the gentle wind became a roaring assault on their limited senses.

The swaying candelabra crashed fatally
onto the four-poster bed
where two oligarchs were sleeping off a hangover.
They'd been drinking again!
No amount of greenbacks (or dirty roubles)
could pay the protection demanded

Many suffered a sore pain that night,
but the tiny ballerina on the tiny jewel box
danced unconcerned -
as if nothing had happened.