The Tiptoe Parade Poem by Mark Nichols

(For Warrior Girl)

My name is Takesalookatit
Nom de plum, some people say
And it's just as well what do they know anyway?

Through the wind and the sleet
It's kept me on my toes
Kept my cells in bloom
Snakes it's way through my imagination
Tiptoes thru my room

Oh, to be thinking of that now
We died before our time
‘Cause that old universe
Tells me, "You're in a hurry"
Do it slow, Let's just duck out quietly
Head out early for the climb

I'll buy a cheap house in North Carolina
We never say goodbye
And there's sugar in my tea
A nobody with too many songs
Won't you take a moment to listen to me?

There's just one thing that's important
It's knowing we won't be dying
If they were people here before
The moving underground
Like God's abandoned mother
Won't you walk in our parade
The tiptoe parade won't make a sound

Where do we get off
To the realm of Amadeus?
You know get things done
Like the old man with the saggy balls
Before this country went down the drain
And he became undone

Of the grey clouds wrapping her like a blanket
We bond over underdog sadness
Keeps us safe from harm
Mother earth I apologize

With subtle grins and corny pride
For their time to go and fly
Said the rooster to the shrew
It's a mockery of day
Holding slumbers thru one last smile
And holding on to you