012820c

Eventually, we had to stop building bridges, and tore down the ones we had. They were infested with trolls fleeing the wreck of the Internet.

052919

Trip Trap

A troll can matriculate:

hunch down and smile with closed lips,

wear a broad-brimmed hat on sunny days,

change your diet to Jamaican food,

major in architecture or hydrology.

Drank too much at a frat party,

went way too far with a cute flautist,

turned out she liked short and stout

and not being able to conceive,

didn’t mind I couldn’t dance,

and took long long showers.

Meeting the parents was awkward

(mine: stony silence;

hers thought I was Italian),

we forged a new alliance.

I made the swim team

(I know, right!),

medaled at State;

she, marching band,

law school, prestigious gig on Main Street,

City Council, state House.

Well, eventually it all came out,

me a fabulous creature,

not even human, really,

and the whole billy-goat thing,

she had to choose: public service or love.

That didn’t turn out too well,

and … “Hey, you kids, get offa my bridge!

“Don’t make me come up there!”

111118d

With a sinking heart, Grover recognized troll sign under his porch:
scattered small bones (cat, dog,  brownie) & a few gnawed toys.

051318b

This is Bert the troll. My wife made him for me. To give you an idea of the scale, he's on the seat of an armchair in this photo. He is very very very cute!

062017c

Rain yesterday
rain today
and blimey if it don't look like rain tomorrow

The trolls built a boat
sailed away when the hills got flooded
they would've made it too
if it hadn't been for that meddling sun
it wasn't a bad boat
but it sank like a stone

120115

stone
lurks
this bridge
room for two
plenty of traffic
you'd eat well, sleep hid in deep shade

poor feller

Old Stone



Only a strong or lucky troll

scores a bridge

all-you-can-eat traffic

fresh air, the works

this here rock shelter

it ain't no bridge

really, not a shelter atall

et my share of aborigines

in my day but lately?

few stringy hikers

forget when last I caught one

can't cook neither; a fire here

would lamp me out

to what calls itself the law nowadays

tain't the script I wrote

fresh eyed, eager of tooth

and tongue

but it's the one I sing

we're a solitary folk

but get together anon

ain't seen ary troll in

long and long years

looked, I did, on a time

could snatch me a bridge now

may be, save I'm

cold now

old

hungry

weak

a hiker came by now

I'd have the worst of the meetin

nothing left for me

but take the way of all trollflesh

least my aches'll be gone


end

make no bones about it

Oracle of Norway

The troll's dice
tiny skulls chattering
about the weather
the day they died

it takes a little
meat broth or blood
to make them prognosticate

I had a spare pint
O negative
it would have to do

What's that I hear?

Summer camp under bridges now

here
there
be trolls
Miami
sex offenders tri-
bute but monsters like tender meat


end