by Cynthia Washam

Running in Yellowstone Park

Some folks might think I’m a gutsy old gal
Because I run in the dark.
I thought so, too,
Because it was true
’Till I ran in Yellowstone Park

That’s where I spent a summer, you see,
And where I would have run, too,
If not for the critters
That gave me the jitters.
I felt like I lived in a zoo.

The very first day I went out for a jog,
And what should appear up ahead,
But a woolly, black beast,
A half-tonner, at least.
If he charged me, I knew I’d be dead.

Buffalo, bison,
Whichever you say,
They put a quick end to my run.
But I found a steep trail
That these beasts wouldn’t scale.
This gal sure knew how to have fun.

Then came the news
That altered my views
Faster than two feet can fly.
A bear on that trail
Mauled a fleet-footed male.
What luck that poor man didn’t die.

By the middle of summer,
Oh what a bummer!
The buffaloes finally fled.
But the elks came along
With their racks sharp and strong.
They gave me a new cause for dread.

Of course it’s no crime
To take some me time
And blow off a run now and then.
But I’d entered a race
That the locals would ace.
I needed to train once again.

Oh what a surprise
When I did realize
The locals weren’t loaded with guts.
This wimpy old gal
In their beast-filled locale
Kicked all of their poky young butts.

Let’s Go For a Run

Let’s go for a run.
We’ll have so much fun.
Just give me a minute or two
To warm up this knee
That’s been killing me.
Soon yours will be killing you, too.

Let’s go for a run.
We’ll have so much fun.
Yes I know my big toenail is blue.
Do some quick miles here
And some slower ones there,
And yours will turn navy blue, too.

Let’s go for a run.
We’ll have so much fun.
My heel feels almost like new.
My doc’s tool did the trick
With a loud tick, tick, tick.
Soon you’ll need a tick-ticking, too.

Then one day, you’ll see,
We’ll both wake up pain-free
And feel like running all day.
So we’ll go for a run
That should be such fun,
But we won’t have a darn thing to say.

Categories: Poet's Corner