Of All Things

And he said to himself, if primates, rodents, and hoofed mammals each have their place, so must noodles, tinned fruit, and cheeses. If hoofed mammals are channelled into camels, pigs, and goats, then let there be cheeses soft and blue and smoked. And let these divide again into lines such as curly coat, tame, babybel, cheshire. And shortbread, he muttered, will behave in similar manner: have it come low-fat, triangular, and with pieces of ginger like the lemurs in assortments, big-eyed and striped. So he went on. The power was his. And now and then there came a surprise like an ice cream the flavor of sprouts, or a lemur he christened a mouse; both something of a novelty these days and which most are happy to go without.

More Poems by Isabel Galleymore