Thursday, April 14, 2005

NA PO WRI MO - DAY 14

Does Elisson have Walt Whitman on the brain?

And when did he start referring to himself in the third person? Ahh, no matter. It’s Day 14 of NaPoWriMo, so here is today’s contribution, culled from the voluminous Elisson Personal Archive.

Elegy on the Passing of a Beloved Children’s Entertainer

O Captain! My Captain! The television’s on;
Yet legions of our saddened youth lament that you have gone.
No more the show with Mr. Moose, and no more Bunny Rabbit;
No more the entertainer who became a steady habit.
O boo hoo hoo,
O Captain Kangaroo,
I heard the news today, oh boy
That now your life is through.

O Captain! My Captain! With you and Rogers gone,
The kiddies of America will have to soldier on.
Without the seltzer-bottle clown, without good Clarabell;
And now without our Captain? What dreadful news to tell!
Can this be true?
My Captain Kangaroo
Has shuffled off this mortal coil
And left me feeling blue.

My Captain does not say much; his flesh is cold and sere.
Perhaps he’s fallen sound asleep - he cannot see or hear.
O Mr. Green Jeans! Wake him up! Arouse him, please, I pray!
It strikes our deepest fears when childhood icons pass away.
O mourn, my friends! A legend ends!
Our Captain Kangaroo
Is entertaining angels now,
Now that his life is through.

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