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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">Hi All,
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">this is my submission for
our crique group.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">The below 85 line poem
can be considered a memoir. I say that with tongue in cheek, but it is a rue
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes">story.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Finny
Society of Waterdown</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">
by</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">
Leonard Tuchyner</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Deep in a cellar, on an old oaken desk,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">many lives have thrived and died </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">in the seventy-gallon town of <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Waterdown</st1:place></st1:City>.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">There was a time when black mollies</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">plied the town like black trolleys.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">But something in the water altered,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">and this thriving tribe began to die. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">A chapter in Waterdown was over.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">The epoch of mini snails approached,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">when tiny black dots of life exploded </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">out of every rocky ridge and crevice,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">from behind the most piddling little stone,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">and gushed out of every broken shell,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">quickly infiltrating pumps and filters, </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">portending death of gasping citizens.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>To wit,</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">An eight-inch snaky, brownish placo --</FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">a.k.a. Sir Suckey.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">A sleek, black, sharkey catfish --</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>a.k.a. Mack The Knife --</FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Two surviving, elderly mollies --</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>a.k.a. Molly and Polly. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">What to do? What to do? What to do?</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">As Waterdown Warden, I wanted to know.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">With much consultation with Mrs. Warden,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">I employed a highly recommended Miss Clooney,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">a young, but voracious, snail-eating
clownfish,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">to clear the glut of marauding snails.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Miss Clooney took to her job expeditiously,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">cleansing Waterdown of its fouling scourge, </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">alarmingly increasing her size and girth.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Mrs. Warden also employed a young</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">pretty, tear-shaped, orange-blushed cichlid,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">to add class and color to the décor.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">She called him Lolli Lolli Lollipop.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Without snails, the algae ran rampant,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">smearing every surface with slimy green,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">quite too much for Sir Sucky to clean up. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Frustrated, Mack ate Molly and Polly.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Then he went after Lolli Lolli Lollipop,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">but the little tear-drop was too quick and
cunning.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Besides, he was getting too big to eat.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">So I hired another, smaller sucker fish</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">to be an apprentice to Sir Sucky,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">but he was reclusive to the extremus </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">and a no-account, worthless stick-in the-mud,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">too lazy to even eat, grow or show.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Despite the slime, the citizens flourished.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Mack and Lolli reached an accommodation.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Clooney took up dwelling in an old conch
shell.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Regardless of the fact that she had grown quite
fat,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">she managed to squeeze herself snugly</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">into its curly, pearly coils,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">though often her wiggling tail protruded.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">She quite intended it to be a tell-tail,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">‘cause other times she vanished completely, tail and
all.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">Miss Clooney had her girly, wily reasons,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">and Mack became her intimate companion.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">He is often seen sneaking out of her home.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">No one really knows what scandal goes on.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">It is touching to see him rush to her shell </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">and inform Miss Clooney when dinner time
arrives.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">She emerges to gobble up the fare</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">in an astonishingly expeditious manner,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">then returns to her happy, safe haven,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">where one can imagine a cozy hearth fire</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">there to warm her and her dashing dark suitor,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">leaving Lolli to swim and shake his head </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">with curious disturbing suspicions<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">of the unnatural collusion between the two,<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">right there in seventy-gallon Waterdown. </FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">As for me and Mrs. Warden,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">What to do? What to do? What to do? --</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">about the green slimy algae, that is.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>