BETTY BOOP LIVES ON

BETTY BOOP LIVES ON

 When I was just a lad of 9,
 I heard a fable 'bout a King
 who wished to give his 9 year old boy
 A birthday gift only a King could bring.
 The Lighting of potential
 the Thunder of your voice
 And just like 9 yr old little Davey
 The freedom to choose your wonder
 the distance of your choice
 The both of us you see
 just loved to hear loud noises.
 The louder the better
 like cascading stones
 exploding your body
 invading your bones
 Every day throughout the Castle
 were whistles, crashes, bangs and bursts
 but no noise however loud
 could quench the child's thirst.
 And as each loud noise was never loud enough
 The son grew sadder as his spirit spiraled
 from glad to bad to worst
 So dad the King had an idea so grand
 the likes of which had never ever been done
 Decreeing that:
 As the Kingdom's clock tower shall strike at noon
 on the 10th birthday of his son-
 EVERYONE would combine to make
 the loudest sound ever heard by anyone
 the greatest birthday present of all time
 had finally been found
 All Pots, pans, horns and hammers
 glass, metal, and all that clammers
 was acquired in anticipation of the
 big noise-making day.
 But then people started talking.
 Quietly. Conspiringly. Over backyard fences,
 neighbor to neighbor a conversation not about
 what noisemakers to get…
 but about what noise-makers
 not to bring at all!
 "I don't see what difference it would make
 if I didn't participate" or "Surely the sound would be
 loud enough without me making any sound at all"
 At the agreed upon 12:00 moment
 on the King's son's 10th birthday,
 NARY a sound was heard
 except for the 12 lonely strikes
 from the Kingdom's clock
 and the tweet of a heart-sick bird
 -The world's loudest sound
 became the loudest thud.
 How disappointed was I - little Davey
 9 year old me so sad and blue
 hoping to experience that vicarious thrill
 of a big bang on my 10th birthday, too.
 What would that sound be like I wondered?
 How long would it last?
 Would it be more like a boom
 Would it be more like a crash?
 I waited all this time, deep into my adulthood,
 to find out - and it happened last Saturday,
 t'was my vast miniature piano
 collection I was preparing to display
 At least 300 mostly music-boxes;
 made of porcelain, glass, metal and wood,
 and even tootsie-rolls standing where piano legs should
 With piano players from frogs,
 dogs cats and clowns
 to N'Orleans jazz "cats",
 and debutantes in flowing pink gowns
 Dressed in blues, browns, purples and greens
 all sorts of Renaissance figurines
 And the personal favorite from all my groups
 in her bright red sexy dresses were my
 all my Betty Boops.
 Acquired from catalogs, swap meets, and antique shops
 from as far away as France,
 These music boxes and their melodies
 shared a special circumstance
 From "Happy Birthday" to "Fur Elise",
 - all recalling memories of my past for me.
 All of them arranged by shape and kind
 Looking resplendent and beautifully aligned
 on 3 long shelves held up by two strips
 firmly attached to the studs in the wallSurely
 they could never fall
 Or so I thought.
 but last Saturday at 12:00
 on somebody's 10th birthday,
 I found out - they were not!
 I entered my apartment, shut the door,
 the vibrations made a chain- reaction
 the likes of which I had never seen before.
 Starting with the top shelf, and moving
 agonizingly slow,
 began a ballet of destruction blow by blow by blow
 As the right-side vertical pulled away from the wall,
 the pianos dropped like Humpty-Dumpty's historic fall.
 Cascading crashing down
 into smithereens of porcelain and glass.
 But I would fight off my frown
 and let go of these possessions from my past.
 And then the music-boxes began to play
 and play and play
 the world's most cacophonous sound.
 All together
 all at once
 going round and round and round
 "from Frere Jacques" to ","Twinkle twinkle little star"
 so many tunes to comprehend
 "how I wonder what you are".
 No Please don't ever end.
 "Mary had a little lamb"
 "fly me to the moon"
 "the eensy weensy spider"
 going and out of tune
 auld lang syne
 row row rowing my boat
 gently down the stream
 merrily merrily merrily merrily
 to a zip a dee doo dah dream
 Even "Take me out to the Ballgame",
 - one long and loud last gasp from,
 a piano made from miniature baseballs
 and several packs of gum
 "Jingle bells", "you are my sunshine"
 "Moonlight Sonata" too
 "Happy Birthday-dear Davey
 Happy Birthday to you"