Stone Soup Croutons, 1-25-18, Fiddle About

Stone Soup Croutons is a weekly poem I write using lines and impressions butchered picked up from poems overheard from Stone Soup's open mic readers and features. I figure out a title (and sometimes the rest of the poem) later. You can read the other ones I've done since 2015 here. To paraphrase Lorne Michaels, this poem doesn't go up because it's ready, it goes up because it's Friday morning.

Last night was an all-open mic night. It was a little too quick and short, given last week's festivities, but at least we have our feature next week. I appreciate the loyalty of my group as we get assimilated to the new place. Got some news that I'll need to share with the rest of you later, but it fed the start of this week's piece. Thanks for reading.


Fiddle About

You're Nero without the kink
playing without a PA system.

Life support makes every
breath a privilege.

You have a habit of claiming
everything that's set on fire.

You ride your cycle
of self-defeat backwards.

Everything that is not a fish
now wants the water more than fish.

Drones can only watch
the fires, not put them out.

Sadly, your political dunk tank
is only a metaphor.

Sleep on stone to escape
the burden of your air.

Dream of Victorian era diseases
the neocons want to bring back.

Special thanks to Lee Varon, Joey Pass, Nancy Messom, Erik Nelson, Alexa Reed, Carol Weston, Bil Lewis and James Van Looy.