POEM 3

*Timothy T. Timbleton and Dr. Jim (Maggie D.)
 
“So, how’d you become a doctor anyways?” Timothy T. Timbleton pondered 
as the two friends stepped off the court. He swiped a slimy newt arm 
against a slimy newt head and licked the slimy newt sweat off it. 
His arm still came back slimy. “You weren’t one last week.” 
“I married into it,” replied the chameleon, Dr. Jim. “I got an Email.”
They stopped in the middle of the cattail fields.
When the sun tapped the edge of the horizon it cracked like an egg
and the blinding yellow yolk rolled around the hills 
like a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan. Timothy T. Timbleton 
pulled two hamburger buns out of his tennis bag
and reached them up to the horizon to capture it. He ate it 
and the yolk burst in his mouth like a cyst. 
“Here, take a bite.” Timothy T. Timbleton held the burger up to Dr. Jim. 
Dr. Jim reached out and plucked Timothy T. Timbleton’s fingers
out of his palm with his tongue. “Tastes like sweat."

Jim and Henry By Ava Schrock 

 The pair of cobras, Jim and Henry, sit on the courts covered in hamburger. 

“Man, I can’t believe we lost to a pair of salamanders,” said Henry. 

“We had them in that first set, then it started raining hamburgers.” 

The pair of salamanders walked off the courts, laughing, 

one mocking Henry, how he's slipped on a tomato during the match. 

Jim sat silent, eating a bun, while listening to Henry complain.  

A moment of silence went by, then both cobras were covered in ketchup. 

“Hey! Behind you!” 

The two salamanders had sprayed ketchup all over them. 

Within a second it was an intense ketchup battle! 

Instead of blood on the court there was ketchup. 

“See what happens when you mess with cobras,” said Jim. 

There was suddenly not only ketchup on the courts but mayonnaise too! 

The two teams fought it out for just a few minutes before the cops showed up. 

“Teams are now suspended from play,” yelled the cop.  

“Well, we may not have won our match, but we sure won that fight,” said Henry.

Anph and Snek (Charles) 

“Lord, I don't know how you do it, you sly snake,” 

said Anph, the newt, to their snake coworker Snek, as they watched the brutal match

unfold at the coliseum. “Whatever do you mean?” said Snek, obnoxiously grinning.

“How you were able to swindle those people out of all their money during

those first qualifying matches,” said Anph with clear disdain for their coworker's

predatory betting practices. “I had only won fifteen-thousand scales from that…’

‘... that would not be enough for what I want.” said Snek, with clear condescension

“Oh, pray tell, what would that staggering amount not be enough for?” asked Anph 

The conniving snake responses conspiratorially, “ A hamburger the size of a den”

Anph looked at Snek with clear apprehension, “ Where would you get the meat from?”

Anph asked. Snek looked at their coworker with some curiosity and said simply,

“Where else, from that of a bovine. They have they meat and the curds required for 

 the wondrous sustenance.” 

*Claudius and Hubert (Jaelyn) 

After their hockey game, a lizard and frog walked out of the arena together, laughing about the events of the night. “I can’t believe that someone threw a hamburger onto the ice tonight!” laughed Claudius, the lizard. “I was more surprised when it got shot into the goal!” Hubert, the frog, exclaimed. They continued to laugh and push each other around as they walked down the dark alley beside the arena, the smell of the dumpsters not dampening their joy after their big win that night. Their laughter quieted a bit as they neared the end of the alley, light from the nearest streetlight casting a glow on the building walls. “I wonder where it even came from?” Hubert pondered, aloud. Then a sound came from the shadows behind them. They looked at each other, startled, and turned to look for the culprit. Suddenly, a large robot turtle with a tool belt, filled with different fast-food items hanging out of the belt’s compartments, stepped into the light. “It was I,” said the robot, with its electronic voice. The robot started launching food at them at lightning speed. Claudius and Hubert both screamed and ran. Claudius got further down the road and then looked back. Hubert was lying on the ground, appearing to have been hit in the head by a flying hotdog. The last thing Claudius saw before things all turned black was a chicken nugget soaring at his face. 

Marilynn and Tina (Megan)

Marilynn the snake and Tina the frog made their way off the tennis court

Where they'd been playing. “I can’t believe Carol would do that to you,” 

Said Marilynn. “What do you mean?” Asked Tina. “She was obviously targeting

You on the court!” said Marilynn. They walked quickly, ignoring the gun shots around 

     them. 

“I didn’t notice anything weird,” said Tina. The frog quickly jumped out of the way

Of an oncoming armored car. “She wouldn’t leave you alone and even accused you of 

Stealing her hamburger!” exclaimed the snake. An explosion came from beside them 

And Marilynn and Tina both started to hurry. “I suppose she was acting a tad bit

Strange today,” replied Tina, out of breath. “She was acting terrible today. 

We should get revenge on her,” said Marilynn, as she ducked under flying debris.

“Maybe,” replied Tina. “Hi guys!” said a voice off to the right. Carol waved 

At them from inside a building. “Carol, you really shouldn’t be in there,”

Said Tina. The building came tumbling down upon Carol with a giant explosion.

Marilynn scoffed. “What a dumb girl. Everybody knows not to be in the 

Buildings with the blue spots.” Tina nodded as the pair continued to walk away from

The smoldering rubble.

Netty and Cindy (Zoie)

It was after the game between snakes and frogs

Two snakes coiled around a table at the food court

“They were for ssssure cheating,” Netty bites

“No doubt. Those ssslimy frogs,” Cindy complains

Two hamburgers full of mice guts sit waiting

“Oh how I’d love to ssssink my teeth into one,” says Netty

The two cackle like a candle crackling at its end

“Theressss not enough juice on mine,” Cindy exclaims

“I’m alwaysss cheated out of thingsss”

The bar of dumpster juice radiates untouched death

A spider team walks by

All their legs make tapping sounds like a tap dancer on crack

Celebratory silk dangling in the room from ceiling to floor

“How ssselfish of them,” Netty scoffs

“Think of the other playerssss here who lost”

Their tails rattle like an upset baby throwing a tantrum

Netty and Cindy not considering their own faults and flaws

Sitting as kings above the ground the others fall upon

But melting away from the lack of hard emotions

Sitting in a puddle of defeat brought upon themselves

Wondering why they always get drenched

Saying it must've been the fault of some bird

*Jim and Bo By Hudson B.

Bo and Jim slither their way out of the brightly lit hockey arena

“You may be able to beat me in the rink, but here no one can beat me,”

Jim hisses, fangs glistening with venom

“Why the long fangs, Jim? Let’s go get a hamburger,” Bob replies,

Sweat gathering thick on his salamander skin

“You have taken everything from me, Bo, everything I have wanted,”

Jim cries, slithering ever closer to the panicked lizard

“It didn’t have to end this way, Jim, none of this had to end this way”

Jim lunges for the wet amphibian, fitting the creature’s head in its mouth

Bo begins to cry

Tears flowing like sand in an hourglass

“You’re choking me,” Jim says, muffled, stifled by the sands of his own regret

“And yet you do not let go…” Bo pipes out on what turns into his last breath

Both animals lie dead

The hourglass of time lies dormant, no past and no future

For animals might play hockey but will never outgrow their nature

*Gene and Paul (Vinny)

The battle was over; it was time to wrap things up and unwind.
Gene and Paul stood there, soaked in sweat from their tennis match.
“What now?” Gene ventured, while Paul sat adjusting the site on his shotgun.
“You know what happens next, we go for the score. You get the money
and I direct traffic,” Paul exclaimed. waiving his little arms in the air.
“But we’re just turtles, what if the salamanders are working tonight,
they fucking hate us already,” Gene whimpered, pathetically.
“Eh, they won’t know what hit 'em, it’ll be fine, just grab the money
and I’ll make sure everything else is in order,” said Paul.
As they made their way into the McDonald’s, they could smell the
hamburgers on the grill and the potatoes in the frier.
“Don’t any of you slimy fucks move, give us the money from the safe
and we’ll all get to see our loved ones later,” Paul screamed, aiming
the shotgun. “Give my partner the money and we can all go home.”
Gene collected the loot, intending to make his way to the door, but little did he know
he was going to meet his loved ones, but not the loved ones he usually sees.
One of the Salamanders then fired a gun, hitting the fryer, the bullet ricocheting 
straight into Gene’s head. “I guess someone's going to see long-departed loved ones,”
Paul said with a smirk. “More money for me.” Paul picked up the bloody bag
and rushed to the door. Gene was supposed to drive and still had the keys.
And besides, Paul slipped on a burger bun soaked in Gene’s blood...
Then came another shot. Now Paul was dead, too. They were no ninja turtles.

Bobby and Phil (Marisol)
 
“Eeee!” Bobby shrieks and eagerly jumps in excitement 
Because she won the final tennis match. Bobby boasts and
Croaks proudly at Phil. While Phil is left cringing,
Rolling his eyes, Bobby the Bullfrog’s spaced-out toes
Leave the disgustingly squishy turf and Bobby is no longer 
There. “What the hell?” Phil says. “It’s like she disappeared
Into thin air.” Little crumbs of what appear to be sesame
Seeds start pouring down out of the sky. Phil, the Lizard, 
Is now crawling his way out of a pool of seeds trying not to 
Choke on too many at once. Tomatoes splatter and lettuce float down,
Weirdly, all of it landing on Phil. A cucumber drops (seeming  
To grin!) but it’s not a cucumber, it’s Bobby disguised!
Covered in green goo, she cackles, “That’s for not believing in me!” 
From the sky, a perfectly toasted bun falls on top of Phil, slowly
Turning him into a hamburger that Bobby can finally enjoy in peace.

EDDIE AND TITUS (Haley)

Eddie, the blue tongued skink, wallows in the grass
“I can’t believe that I lost to a mere tadpole,
I mean, you can’t even walk.”
“I can’t even hold a tennis racket,” the slimy larva reports from his
Portable, water-filled, apparatus on wheels
“Titus, do you have to talk shit when you win?”
“Sometimes, because you lost to a tadpole! So who should be ashamed?”
Eddie gets up with a new fervor that Titus doesn’t expect.
The clumsy, stout lizard whips his tail toward Titus’s tadpole terrarium.
He knocks the surprisingly fragile structure to the ground and watches the water spill out.
“Eddie!” Titus shrieked “You monster!”
Just then the sound of a giant creature echoes in the distance.
Is this creature… hopping?....both skink and tadpole question.
The ground quakes, each hop bringing the creature closer.
“Mommy!” Titus squeals.
The gargantuan frog stops just short of Eddie’s blue tongue.
She puts Tiny Titus in her mouth and shouts “WHY????”
“He taunted me,” he says, slithering into a small ball.
“For your crime, a hamburger must be deposited into my bank account. Tonight.”
Titus sticks out his tongue and blows a raspberry at Eddie.
Eddie’s humiliation is palpable in the image of ketchup and mustard on bread with beef
“Deal” he says, then crawls into the river to the north of the tennis court.
Blue-tongued skinks can’t swim