Fly In The Cup Poem by gershon hepner

When a fly falls into their coffee, Italians will rage,
while Frenchmen will take out the fly, and drink the potage.
The Chinese will gobble the fly, and throw away
the coffee, while Russians have both, since they don’t have to pay.
Israelis will sell the coffee to Frenchmen, the fly
to the Chinese, change the cup, and try
inventing a tchotchka preventing a fly from flying
straight into one’s coffee—“End the dying! ”
they declare, in contrast to the Pal-
estinians who blame Israelis and cry out: “Scandale! ”
to all of the nations, demanding from the UN
funds to replace all the coffee they lost, and then
use all of the money they give them to blow up their friends,
like the Brits in their subways in order to make amends
for the problems Israelis are causing, while donating
their cups and their saucers to Arabs to end all the hating.

Inspired by an e-mail that my friend Vivian passed on to me from a friend of hers:

What happens when a fly falls into a coffee cup?
The Italian - throws the cup and walks away in a fit of rage.
The Frenchman - takes out the fly, and drinks the coffee.
The Chinese - eats the fly and throws away the coffee.
The Russian - drinks the coffee with the fly, since it was extra with no charge.
The Israeli - sells the coffee to the Frenchman, the fly to the Chinese, buys himself a new cup of coffee and uses the extra money to invent a device that prevents flies from falling into coffee.
The Palestinian - blames the Israeli for the fly falling in his coffee, protests the act of aggression to the UN, takes a loan from the European Union to buy a new cup of coffee, uses the money to purchase explosives and then blows up the coffee house where the Italian, the Frenchman, the Chinese, and the Russian are all trying to explain to the Israeli that he should give away his cup of coffee to the Palestinian.

1/12/09