{"id":287,"date":"2020-08-28T21:27:57","date_gmt":"2020-08-28T21:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/entwistedtongues\/?page_id=287"},"modified":"2023-04-15T20:33:04","modified_gmt":"2023-04-15T20:33:04","slug":"287-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/entwistedtongues\/","title":{"rendered":"Teasers for Skinny-Dippin’ with Alligators"},"content":{"rendered":"

Follow some extract teasers for this narrative comic poem, a satire in couplets in the East Texas vernacular of my youth. \u00a0For the poem itself, click on the link above or here<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

…. The way that amputees
\nDo, he took my right hand in his left,
\nShook me warm greetings with a manly heft.
\n\u201cGot the samples?\u201d he asked.
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cShore do.
\n<\/span>But in front of these Christian fam\u2019lies?\u201d
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u201cDon\u2019t chew
\nWorry,\u201d he replied. \u201cRednecks can\u2019t tell the diff\u2019rence
\n\u2018Tween one smell and the next. They got no sense
\nOf odor.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Outa his pouch the Chief pulled a bone
\n<\/span>Pipe which dangled feathers: same colors as Bea\u2019s own
\nBeads and the head-dresses too. He thumbed
\nA pinch of the shit into the bowl, then hummed
\nA blessing (I figured, don\u2019t know their lingo).
\nHolding over the bowl what looked like a Zippo
\nHe lit up, took a toke, held it in for
\nA good long while and exhaled before
\nPassing the apparatus on around
\nThe circle. Everyone including Bea found
\nSome deep thought to reflect on….<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Nowadays Noosetown was no longer the zoo
\nIt was. It\u2019d become a fine place to raise
\nBig families. How come Swamp Carnival stays
\nSo long and comes twice t\u2019a year. Young\u2019uns
\nGot nothing else to do. Sure, it\u2019s tons
\nof sport to frolic in the bayous with gators,
\nSnapping turtles, whatever the Creator\u2019s
\nPut swimmin\u2019 in there \u2014 cottonmouth water
\nMoccasins! \u2014 things you don\u2019t want your daughter
\nOr son to play with. But Swamp Carnival
\nWas good, clean family fun. Nothing carnal.
\nNo kootch shows. Though I\u2019d bet on this:
\nA road show that don\u2019t smell of puke and piss
\nAin\u2019t much fun either.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 …. \u00a0 \u00a0Usta could fall in love, took the tumble
\nMany times, saw so many dreams crumble
\nThat I get nervous going up where I might slip.
\nWho am I to say? Someone wants to skinny-dip
\nWith alligators, that\u2019s their personal choice,
\nJess them listening to their inner voice….<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>Homer, his name,
\n<\/span>Didn\u2019t think much of folks. Most folks thought the same
\nOf him. S\u2019why he lived way out here, his best
\nFriends, pythons, kept in barrels, not in jest
\nHe claimed. Them and the cat he\u2019d let out to play
\nAt night. \u201cShe keeps the pole cats away.
\n<\/span>Personally, I sorta like their smell. She dudn\u2019t.
\n<\/span>She\u2019s pretty picky, she don\u2019t like the scent
\nOf nobody but me.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Homer liked his meat, though he cared which kind.
\nHe preferred his squirrel to birds, didn\u2019t mind
\nArmadillo or things fishy. I learned
\nThat like me when a boy, he yearned
\nFor crawdad gumbo, victuals we caught
\nBy knowing how to tease them out
\nOf the ditches from their holes behind
\nMud clump mounds with bacon bits on twine.<\/p>\n

Bat was Homer\u2019s meat of choice. \u201cCan\u2019t stand
\nTo shoot them, and they\u2019re hard to catch by hand.
\nI make do with nutria, a tasty swamp
\n<\/span>Delight.\u201d It was pretty good the stew he whomped
\n<\/span>Up with those water rats, not as good as cow.
\nBetween the two of Bea and \u2018im, we had good chow.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Homer is a recluse who lives alone in the Piney Woods with a bunch of pythons and a wildcat.\u00a0On the run, Johnny (the narrator), Virg(il) and Bea(trice) have holed up in his retreat after contretemps which will be sooner or later revealed.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Follow some extract teasers for this narrative comic poem, a satire in couplets in the East Texas vernacular of my youth. \u00a0For the poem itself, click on the link above or here. *** …. The way that amputees Do, he took my right hand in his left, Shook me warm greetings with a manly heft. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Teasers for Skinny-Dippin’ with Alligators”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":352,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/entwistedtongues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/287"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/entwistedtongues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/entwistedtongues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/entwistedtongues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/entwistedtongues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/entwistedtongues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":491,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/entwistedtongues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/287\/revisions\/491"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/entwistedtongues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/entwistedtongues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}