Hardcases

    I dreamed my toenails
    were ivory
    and elephants came to trade for tusks
    ... Then went conveniently off to die
    ("shed this mortal coil") in a
    cutter-shed stacked high
    like firewood.

    II
    I dreamed Landover, Maryland
    was the site near the
    Pentagon. People got wind of
    the scheme and grew intrigued.
    Twigs shattered in the moonlight
    as curious onlookers tried
    to peek-a-boo into the shed.

    III
    Raisins were left out
    to dry as
    token offerings.

    IV
    Mafioso members and other hardcases
    wanted to elbow in
    but stiff military types
    eminently incorruptible, said
    "no dice" made, naturally,
    of ivory turned a
    deadly nightshade of
    twilight toenail blue.

    V
    Umber became my colour
    (and trademark) along with the mandatory ebony.

    VI
    Out-of-work seasonal elves,
    dwarfs and the occasional
    circus midget shoe-horned in.

    VII
    Nothing remained of the earlier raisins as
    a variety of greedy misfits
    pocketed the tributes.

    VIII
    The North Pole beckoned,
    heightened consciousness and
    sensitivity groups against
    demeaning and negative stereotypes
    routed the Barnum and Baileys'
    dwarfs and midgets.

    IX
    A pile of cinders and
    grey-glow embers
    paused to remain
    after boycotting
    exposed the great
    toe-nail giveaway sham.

    X
    Reportedly, the Devil has a toe-nail
    chair in Hell.
    This common, medieval belief
    lingers into macumba, voodoo and
    loa-spirit trees.

    XI
    Who wants,
    after all,
    discarded body parts
    brought to such an ignoble
    end? The intriguing thing
    is in the witchery, smoke 'n mirrors
    world of Obeah, toenails are
    prized much like the greying
    Information Age values
    organ transplants for an
    aging population.

    XII
    Medieval really.
    Nothing the body profuses
    is really evil,
    only our intent.

    XIII
    Should a fly symbolizing
    havoc, despair and filth
    fall into Holy Water,
    the detested fly not
    does pollute the sacred vessel.

    XIV
    Modern fitness buffs full-circle
    with gleaming sweat-stained temples
    "glistening" with, what else,
    moisture.