Esoteric Bowl

Run, run, run,
Penny be slim;
Instead of eating,
go to the gym;
Chances of obesity,
Penny beware;
Vicious laughter,
cold awful stares;

Television said,
you must be thin;
Future for Penny,
looks awful grim;
Nobody will love you
if you’re not thin;
Looks more important,
than what’s within;
Diet books,
do it this way or that;
Penny be thin!
Don’t you dare be fat;

Skinny Penny,
refuses to eat;
Skinny Penny,
all bones and no meat;
She has finally done it,
Penny in a size five;
Probably would have rejoiced,
if only she were alive.

One day in my younger years,
Grandma asked what I wanted to be;
I told her how I dreamed of a career,
of one day being a disc-jockey;
With disappointment, she looked at me,
my decision, she could not endorse;
But she felt she must speak free,
so she told me without sounding coarse,
“You’re too big to ride a horse.”

Directly from the airport,
tourists ride into Waikiki
sucking complementary macadamia
from their teeth
in search of the Aloha Spirit;

Exiting beachfront hotel
donning His & Hers Hot-pink floral wear;
Sore thumbs walk in white sands
in search of the Aloha Spirit;

Soaking in the Sun,
beef tomatoes turning red
on kitchen window sill;
Drinking sherbet colored rum drinks
with pineapple and little umbrellas
in search of the Aloha Spirit;

Watching Hulahula girls dance,
purple grass skirts sway;
Sacredness of the dance is not visible
Nor is the Aloha Spirit;

The search continues…

Your Baban’s home has a particular scent
a mixture of steamed rice and green tea
with a faint smoky stream of incense burning
and a nostalgic fragrance of tatami

Your Parent’s home has a particular scent
a mixture of steamed rice and green tea
with miso soup simmering on the stove
and ikebana atop the tv

Your Aunt’s home has a particular scent
a mixture of steamed rice and wealth
with a fragrance of imported furniture
and an old small dog in failing health

Your Brother’s home has a particular scent
a mixture of steamed rice and Spaghetti O’s
with small children and koi tanks in need of cleaning
and the crumbs from half-eaten Oreos

Your Sister’s home has a particular scent
a mixture of brown rice and Earl Grey
with a faint perfume of Clearasil
and tiled floors made of Mexican clay

Your home has a particular scent
a mixture of steamed rice and bamboo
with a fresh aroma of andagi
and the sweet bouquet of you.

Cupid’s arrow forever to miss
until I saw her face;
Thought that it would always be like this,
Cupid’s arrow forever to miss;
Then I felt the bliss
in her warm embrace;
Cupid’s arrow forever to miss
until I saw her face.

Knew a little beaver quite furry,
She wanted a log in a hurry;
When she got all of the hardwood
that she physically could,
She danced up and down with a flurry.