Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PIPE DREAMS: 2, by WILLIAM A. PHELON First Line: Dreams are all right, wah kee, but nightmares Last Line: Beating all records to this safe retreat. Subject(s): Dreams; Nightmares | ||||||||
DREAMS are all right, Wah Kee, but nightmares class Way past my limit. Have you ever had A color nightmare, when strange hues and shades Fill all your view, and put you to the bad? I had one just last night. Methought I walked Along the Great White Way, when, with a flash Of purple, mixed with dark cerise, Nat Wills Came bounding up, and addled all the hash. "Why such vast brilliancy?" cried I, but Nat Never responded. Well, in fact, no chance Was given him to speak, for Henry Lee Stepped in the foregound. Blue and lilac pants Featured our Henry, and his ears were framed In gamboge bracelets. One strong violet hand Waved o'er his head. The other fist contained Booth Tarkington, who squawked to beat the band. "Now this," I said, "is terrible." "Keep still," Said Tarkington, "just watch me twist, and see That the chameleon, framed for changeful hues, Hasn't one bit of anything on me." Booth writhed an instant, and that fuzzy hat Changed its complexion to an apple-green Another wriggle, and the playwright grew To the full semblance of a well-browned bean. Just then Fred Stone swam up. Yes, swam, for Fred Had golden fins, secured with silver frogs, While a large steering rudder framed his way A steering rudder, held by copper cogs. "What's all this noise about?" asked Fred. "I'll bet A burnt sienna goat, a three-horned bird, Against two beers, that Otis Skinner can't Play a stitched cocoanut in 'Richard Third."' Then, with loud cries of mirth, they lit on Fred, Painting him Vandyke brown, with steel-blue feet, While I escaped, with wild and shivery screams, Beating all records to this safe retreat. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VARIATIONS: 14 by CONRAD AIKEN VARIATIONS: 18 by CONRAD AIKEN LIVE IT THROUGH by DAVID IGNATOW A DREAM OF GAMES by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN THE DREAM OF WAKING by RANDALL JARRELL APOLOGY FOR BAD DREAMS by ROBINSON JEFFERS GIVE YOUR WISH LIGHT by ROBINSON JEFFERS A FOOL THERE WAS by WILLIAM A. PHELON |
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