the big orange ankle grabber

Deep within the glow of the television's the light
The big orange ankle grabber came to us at night.

He brought with him a message he wanted us to hear
Held up his tiny hands to fan the flames of fear. 

Left no dime or second to spare,
No hue beyond his orange skin and hair.

He got to his ankle grabbing and he pulled in the reins
That orange ankle grabber put those ankles in their chains.

But don't worry children, everything is just great!
Don't worry about words, don't worry about hate,

The orange ankle grabber, he's got a plan
He's going to build a big wall and give power to the klan.

He will protect you and all of your friends.
Unless of course, you are one of 'them.'

He will protect our right to bear arms
He will keep us all from harm

The orange ankle grabber will tie up "their" ankles tight.
He'll kick them out and keep up the fight.

He'll keep talk about climate change to a pitter patter
He'll make sure we all know what lives matter.

With his tiny hands, and orange hair and skin
He'll get to ankle grabbing and make us great again

He'll make everything great for you and for all your friends
Unless, of course, you are one of 'them.'

the ostrich and the giraffe

Ollie the ostrich had opinions.
He liked to do things a certain way.
And when other animals would try to change his mind.
He'd just bury his head all day.

Jolly the giraffe had dreams,
He'd just sit and watch the clouds pass by.
And when others tried to point out the logic of things
He'd stick his head way up in the sky.

Ollie and Jolly met each other one day.
As they walked around on the ground.
They began to share ideas,
But neither heard a sound.

Because right away Ollie buried his head,
And Jolly stretched his neck up high,
The two were all too different,
They couldn't see eye to eye.

They weren't ever on the same page
Ollie had his opinions and Jolly had his dreams
As time went by and they began to age,
It started to seemed like they were on different teams.

Ollie buried his head deeper and deeper,
And Jolly stretched his neck higher and higher into the sky,
Until they lived in two different worlds entirely.
They didn't even speak the same language, they didn't even try.

So they went on about their lives separately.
Ollie lived with his opinions in the ground
Jolly with his dreams in the clouds,
One of them, a peg that was square, the other a hole that was round.

They continued to grow in their own directions
As far as they possibly could,
Until one day they grew so far
That they finally grew just how they should.

They had grown so far into the ground
And so far up in the sky
They found themselves upside down,
Looking one another in the eye.

They had grown right out of their comfort zones
and suddenly it seemed
that Jolly had found his way into Ollie's opinions
And Ollie was in Jolly's dreams.

When they turn their own selves upside down
They could see the perspective of the other
Opposing ideas weren't so different after all
Maybe they were brothers.

Maybe neither of them were wrong
Maybe they were both right.
Maybe there was no left and right,
No darkness and light.

Maybe we can share opinions, ideas and dreams
We can find things that make us all love and laugh
Maybe we can be one team,
Just like the ostrich and the giraffe.

the monster and the closet

Morty had been called a monster,
But he thought of himself as a furry friend.
He didn't scare anyone or hide anywhere,
Except behind a toothy grin.

Ivory horns sat atop Morty's head
And a big ol' blue beard hung from his chin.
His purple fur kept him warm outside
And his big ol' heart kept him warm within.

He lived in a very dense forest
Filled with hemlock trees.
He spent most of his days sleeping,
Eating plants and drinking tea.

He was at home and he was happy,
Until the day that men came with their machines.
They yelled and yielded axes,
They cut down all the trees.

Morty was scared of the them.
He ran as far as he could.
He ran for days and days,
Until he came across a neighborhood.

There, houses and street lights stood in rows
There were plants to eat and places to roam.
Morty hoped that he could find help here,
Maybe even a new home.

He opened the door to one the houses,
Picked up his paw and stepped in,
He tiptoed down the hallway,
Looking for a friend.

He went inside a room
And in the glow of a night light
He saw a little girl
Sleeping soundly, nice and tight.

Slowly, he stepped forward
He didn't want to startle her awake.
He smiled with his big teeth,
Excited about the new friend he would make.

Suddenly she rolled over
And slowly opened her eyes,
And then to his surprise,
She began to scream and cry!

The little girl had seen a shadow
Of horns cast against the wall.
Looming in the room,
Growing big and tall.

Morty put his paws up in the air,
And took a big step back
But her screams just got louder.
Morty was under attack!

Lights came on in the hallway,
And footsteps came from the floor.
Morty began to panic.
He opened the closet door.

He hid behind a pile stuffed animals
And then he held his breath.
A man stormed into the room,
And nearly scared Morty to death!

"There is a monster in the closet!"
The little girl exclaimed.
Morty hadn't even introduced himself
But she had given him this terrible name.

The mans tone of voice elevated
and made a very loud sound
"Monster if you are in there,
You better come out here right now!"

The man walked to the bed
And knelt beside the little girl,
"Monster if you come near us,
I'll knock you right outta this world!"

Morty was terrified.
All he wanted was a friend!
Why didn't they understand
That monsters are pretend?

Eventually the little girl went back to sleep.
And the man stopped with his threats.
Morty sat inside the closet
Terrified of who he'd just met.

He felt afraid and alone,
And he didn't know what to do.
So he began to climb out from the stuffed animals
Until he heard someone say: "excuse you!"

He looked with his eyes from side to side
And several eyes looked right back
Frightened again, he nearly jumped out of his skin
And he opened the closet door to a crack.

"My friend, thats not a good plan."
From behind him came a voice
"You'll upset the little one again.
That's certainly not a good choice."

Morty stopped and said: "You dont think I'm a monster?
Did you call me your friend?"
To which the voice replied:
"Well my friend, monsters are pretend.

We are all friends in this place,
We all like hugs and tea.
There are no monsters in here,
You can be what you want to be."

Morty turned and looked around...
The closet was full of tall tales.
With fur and claws and horns and paws,
wings and tails and teeth and scales.

The others introduced themselves,
As Monty and Mildred and Mork and Miles,
Big and small, on the floor and on the shelves, 
They stood and greeted him with great big smiles.

"What's your name kind sir,
And where in the world are you from?"
Morty replied, "I'm Morty"
Pointing inward with two great big thumbs.

"I come from the forest
Where the hemlocks grow very tall.
I wish that we could all go there
I wish that I could invite you all."

Monty, Mildred, Mork and Miles
all smiled with smiles for miles and miles,
And Mork interrupted:
"Can you help us from this stuffed animal pile?"

"Yes, let's escape!" Morty exclaimed.
"If we work together we can be free.
We can find plants to eat, places to sleep.
We can go together to find trees and tea."

But Miles quickly reminded Morty
Of the man on the other side of the closet door.
"He said he would tear us to pieces
And we don't even know what for.

We all came from happy homes,
With plants and tea,
With animals that roamed
Wild and free among the trees.

But our homes were cut down
By men with axes and saws,
Without a care for all the creatures,
Without a legitimate cause.

The deer and squirrels and birds
The teeth and fur and claws
The bears and wolves and me myself,
The horns and jaws and paws,

All run out of their homes to hide,
Amongst these houses in rows,
Inside of little parks and closets  
Where our teeth and toes won't show."

Morty began to realize
That Monty, Mildred, Mork and Miles
And had been trapped in that closet
for quite a while.

And suddenly he began to see
To this closet door, there was only one key
It was a little girl's imagination
That would surely set them free.

Suddenly he pushed the door open,
"Ta da!" He began cheerfully say,
"I'm one of your stuffed animals
and I've come to play!" 

The little girl quickly sat up in her bed,
Her mind filled up with fear.
Her lips began to quiver.
Her eyes filled up with tears.

Morty, quick on his feet,
Began to dance and smile,
He motioned with his paws
For Monty, Mildred, Mork and Miles.

They all danced into the room
From the bottoms of their feet to their tippity tops:
Shuffles and spins and flippity flops,
Jitters and jives and hippity hops.

They carried stuffed animals that looked a lot like them,
Morty, Monty, Mildred, Mork and Miles
The little girl watched all of them
and slowly began to smile.

"We are here to be your friends"
Morty told the little girl.
"We've come from your imagination
To be here in this world."

The little girl paused and then she asked:
"You aren't monsters? You're here to be my friends?"
Morty smiled real wide and replied:
"Well now little one, monsters are pretend!"

The little girl gave him a great big hug
And they all danced together on into the night
Until she became exhausted
And Morty tucked her in, nice and tight.

They all gave her a little kiss as they left
And tiptoed down the hall.
They stepped out of the front door
With all their great big paws.

They all ran wild and free,
Morty, Monty, Mildred, Mork and Miles.
They ran for miles and miles
All with great big smiles.

Until they came across a forest.
A dense forest of hemlock trees
Where they made a home together,
They danced and slept and drank tea.

They had learned that people fear what they don't understand
But that fear only lives and dies in the mind.
So now they only visit the little girl in her dreams
And otherwise they're quite hard to find.

Over the years, the little girl has dreamt of them again and again
And she is always happy to see her friends.
She isn't afraid even a little bit because she knows
that monsters are pretend


townes is just like me

There was a dog named Townes.
He lived in the backyard.
He loved his family.
He always watched them through the glass on the back door.
And he was happy.
Except when they were gone, when he was lonely.
And when it was storming, when he was scared.
And when it was very cold, when he was freezing.
And when his bowls were empty, when he was hungry and thirsty.
And when he tried to sleep on the hard ground, when he was tired.
One day his dad, John, decided to go on a camping trip.
Townes saw his camping pack and got very excited.
He wanted to go too.
But John left without him.
He went into the woods and camped in a tent for several days.
One night John walked deep into the woods alone to get firewood.
And suddenly he found himself lost.
He began to panic and search for the tent.
But the more he walked the more lost he became.
He was lost in the woods for nearly a week.
When he thought of his family at home, he was lonely.
When it was storming, he was scared.
When it was very cold, he was freezing.
When he could not find food or water, he was hungry and thirsty.
When he could not sleep on the forest floor, he was tired.
He felt frightened and tired and sad.
Until he stumbled across a road
And he found his way home.
When he arrived home, John hugged his wife and children.
He could see Townes looking at him through the back door.
Townes was wagging his tail in some cold rain.
Now John knew how Townes felt.
He opened the door and let Townes into the house.
From that day forward, things changed for Townes.
When John went places, he took Townes.
When it was storming, Townes was comforted indoors.
When it was very cold, he laid by the fireplace.
When he ate food and drank water from his bowls, he felt full.
When he slept on the bed with John, he felt loved.
And John slept soundly beside him,
knowing his friend, Townes, was safe and happy.