Their leader was some guy
who wore his red baseball hat backwards.
I addressed him, but he threw
a half-empty beer bottle in my direction.
The bottle missed my head
and broke on a parking block behind me.
A dog licked up the puddled beer
without cutting its tongue on shards.
Before I could yell at him
he yelled at me for absconding with his elephant.
The only elephant in the vicinity
felt great gusts of fire fill its belly.
Then the grey beast rose
with four people in its gondola.
I was not one of the ascending people
so felt falsely accused.
copyright © 2022 Kenneth P. Gurney
Umflop 