zumpoems

Overflow

      Treading on thin lines
   Like a marginal ropewalker
         A lively rosalia
Imitates the chains of population
         And a farandola
   Is forced to associate
         With septuplets.
         Grapes and fapes
   And berries and cherries
     Are often used in wine
   While the stronger stuff
        Will bear no fruit
            But would rather
  Base its structure on grain.
    A foundation falters when
               The edifice
                   Is too
                     Tall
And that is why there are  
                                            building codes
                                 And yet laws may be broken
       And in      such              disasters
                           Man's fate will tumble like a
                                           hippopotamus on 
                                                       ice.


 

— Zumwalt (1974)