Table Rocks

Lake Minnewaska, Awosting Falls and Beacon Hill

Cedar Drive

Refuge

Woodstock Chimes

above the belly

of a palm, where coconuts lounge

beneath a fan of fronds,

that hum

at a bulging

breast of papaya bursting

green and discover this lush valley

behind the tilapia stream.

Then note

the red cardinal’s tweet

as it excretes a tomato seed

on an orange bromeliad leaf

beside a greedy centipede.

***

Emptying the Puddles-A nod to "Get Smart"

Secret agents like

Maxwell Smart and Agent 99

sometimes do reconnaissance in Hawaii

for CONTROL, a counter-intelligence agency based in Washington, D.C.

created to thwart the evil KAOS

and to release the constant pressure

of  trying to save the planet.

Today’s mission

should we choose to accept it

will be to empty the puddles.

It will take all day since it is still raining.

Max has donned a special pair of

cell phone galoshes in case he gets in over his head.

Brisk trade winds press against me

as I step out into the chill  sixty degree air.

I am assigned to assist him

and am disguised in a striped green trench coat

yellow swim cap and khaki galoshes.

Max and I are intent on the goal

as we both jump into the first puddle.

Slosh, twerk, and slosh,

Slosh, twerk, and slosh.

Katoosh, I slide on my tushie into a red-orange bromeliad

my rubber galoshes now sailing into the stratosphere.

The chief watches from above

nods his head and remarks

no one said it would be easy Agent 99

as Max nose-dives into a potted dendrobium.

And so it goes.

Suck up and retreat

Suck up and retreat

until the chief tells us to dry off

persuading Max to drag his weary

secret agent butt inside

marching us both up to a bubbling hot tub

where we can take a breather 

and spy on the neighbor’s cats.

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