genie – Words and Feathers

what if a genie offered
you a wish
something it swears
it wouldn’t fuck up for you
even though you know all genies
{except for barbara eden}
hate mankind

what if it offered an end
to hunger and climate change
every single human being would
have enough food
but it would be the blandest food ever

no going back
no supplementing
no more steaks
no more sundaes
no more s’mores
or apples
or peaches
or ice cream
or butter or cheese

just gray, tasteless crackers
that practically dissolve
on your tongue
too fast to get a sense
of whether they taste bad
or in fact taste at all

fat third world children
no sustenance farmers
not one single animal getting the axe
to feed a human being
ever again

all you have to do is say yes
to the little gray communion wafer
the genie is offering you

you get to decide
the genie says
no tricks
no twisty loopholes
no soylent green
waiting in the wings

a reformed genie
as affable as robin williams
and eager to save the human race
from starvation
and melting ice caps

Today’s #NaPoWriMo challenge is to write a

… a palinode. And what’s that? It’s a poem in which the poet retracts a statement made in an earlier poem. You could take that route or, if you don’t have an actual poetically-expressed statement you want to retract, maybe you could write a poem in which you explain your reasons for changing your mind about something. It could be anything from how you decided that you like anchovies after all to how you decided that annoying girl was actually cool enough that you married her.

—–
you can’t unwish the third wish,
she says
she doesn’t remind you of genie
and you don’t want to put her in a bottle
but you wouldn’t mind seeing her in a harem outfit

you shake your head to concentrate

i don’t want to unwish anything
you say
i want to wish all the wishes
the only thing i want to take back
is what i said about taking it back

you want to take back what you took back
she asks
on the verge of smiling

you hear an ankle bracelet strung with bells
tinkling
and you think of persia

Tag: genie

ice caps (20170511)

Poem 20150408