Robert Eckstein

The Captain told the Bos'n, 'This is where we drop the hook.
'I've heard there's mermaids hereabouts
'And I intend to look.
'To see a real, live mermaid
...

I dream a horse, a cat, a dog,
A butterfly.
I ride into the mist.
Cat prowls on my left flank.
...

A boy got his electric train, (I think a Lionel)
And then he did an awful thing (this tale is sad to tell)
He took his sister's Barbie doll and laid her on the track,
Then ran the engine over her, first forward and then back.
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Don't throw your words
On paper
Like wet spaghetti
On the wall.
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I was playing at the barn dance when the aliens dropped by.
They must have heard our music from way up in the sky.
They brought beer and ribs and coleslaw so I had to let them in,
One yelled out to the caller, 'Hey Jake, now let's begin! '
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I will not ever see your face,
Or hear your voice, or touch your hand,
But part of you is in this place
Though living in a far-off land.
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When poet hunters come around
To see me, not one can be found.
I've no poetic license
I'd like to keep just one or two;
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What pub this is I think I know.
The owner is a bloke named Joe.
My friends must think it rather queer
That I drink wine instead of beer.
...

Old Zeke and Earl were in the hills
As lost as they could be,
And all around them were more hills
As far as they could see.
...

That afternoon, the day before
I went back into the field,
The Padre called us all together
For 'Just a few, simple words'.
...

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A sudden chill,
Goose-flesh;
You know a cat
Has walked
...

A flying saucer hovered by the shore of Possum Lake.
They'd come to find some specimens and take what they could take.
Sitting in a cage, they had a hillbilly named Jake.
They'd checked him out with ice-cold probes and had him drink some gin
...

I cannot refuse you a taste
Of my pomegranate,
Nor fail to beg you
Beware of seeds;
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...

I sit here looking at my hands
And think ' O Wow, they're really neat! '
I wish I'd not run out of dope
Or I'd be looking at my feet.
...

I shot an arrow straight up into the air
And stood my ground, and didn't have a care.
I knew that coriolis force would save
The careful archer from an untimely grave.
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A fellow saw a lovely girl
In a bar where he was tippling
And to try to introduce himself
Said, 'I say, do you like Kipling'?
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Once there were two old cowpokes,
Their names were Dan and Sam.
They shared their whiskey and their smokes;
They shared their beans and ham.
...

The decrees of kings and kaisers, Fuhrer, Chairman, and Dear Leader
Mean nothing until ratified on the field of battle.
Our blood is the ink.
...