RAY BRADBURY WALKS AT MIDNIGHT

sonorous cackling zig zags from Mars

no Katys bar the door nor John Houston

I won't be turned into an institution

pure sunshine cant be deplored

from sea to shining shore

every dinosaur turns to gold.

Waukegan won't be bought and sold

to the highest bidder.

nor Green Town torched.

I wont get off the porch.

you can bet on it.

God knows how he broke the mould.

and it is broken still;

Ray Bradbury walks at midnight.

not like a toothless zombie, that's for sure

not like something you could procure

when you're seeking eternal tenure

and you don't care how

profiteers galore, dont you know what livings for

a little rococo with his cocoa and grilled cheese...

feel a buckling at the knees, he teases.

Old Bradbury stalks these halls

in brand new tennis shoes and all

a mock apprentice to the embalmers

P is for platypus he snickers

C is for comeuppance

all you scholars in knickers

I was before your Time

undestined to be your candied mine

oh let the miners flee

God of my destiny

in heaven as on the earth

he said with growing mirth.

I hear diaphanous laughter:

formaldehyde away you bastards!

he sings in a sea shanty way

microscopes and flasks

I know you didn't ask

but you won't find me like that

and make me into your hand fed amoeba.

I wasn't your Mummy on earth

and I'm sure not your Mummy now.

mary angela douglas 24 may 2023