Weird Wednesday: A Disguise Might Have Been Preferable

To keep their daughter safe was not enough.
They could defend her while they were alive,
But one life each had they to lose. The stuff
They'd gotten, that would let their darling thrive
E'en after they were gone, so it was said
Would hide her very nature. She'd be fine
And healthy, but forever would seem dead
If only she held still -- though she'd be blind
And deaf  whene'er she did so. The exchange
Seemed worth it, for their enemies were strong.
So Icelyn grew up taking it. But, strange,
One day she dosed herself, but got it wrong,
And now lays lifeless? Senseless? Will she stay
Like this forever? No one now can say.

Weird Wednesday: They Didn't Just Sting

The new apprentice had switched 'round the ink
( By accident, he claimed, but who can say?),
And so 'twas with the special stuff ( we think)
That TeeJay wound up tattooing,  that day,
Such miracles. The Virgin Mary set
Upon one client's bicep healed all wounds
It touched, while that sly Roma Lilybet
Had done on her left thigh? That left her doomed
To hear the future, in detail. Whene'er
It was uncovered -- and the thing was right,
Predictions always true! Then there's the stare
Of that top-hatted eyeball, which, by night,
Stays wakeful on my shoulder, seeing all.
Which shop does better cover-ups, now, doll?

Weird Wednesday: The Final Freeze

The snow first piled and drifted all night long,
Obscuring ev’rything that was in sight
In normal circumstances. Weak or strong,
No one was unaffected on a night
So cold and so immobilizing. Trapped
In houses, stranded on the roads in cars,
All anyone could do was wait, enrapt
And watching whiteness overtake the stars,
The moon, the ground, the world. All disappeared.
The stasis never broke; the Kelvin scale
Alone could read reality. What cleared
It all away at last seemed small and frail
To human senses, but the great old pow’rs
Swept all the shards of Earth away in hours.

Weird Wednesday: Not in Wonderland, Part XXIV

Her wand'rings brought her to a spot replete
With solar panels, coated in fine dust,
But mayhap working still. She tried to beat
Them in with her bare hands, but then, as must
Occur sometimes, she wised up and went back.
Her erstwhile rifle's stock would better serve.
She smashed them good, e'en unto all the black
Behind the glass, and while she had the nerve
Ripped out the wires and pipes that did connect
The panels to a building standing near.
"Come out and fight me, buddy. Look, I've wrecked
Your little power station!" With no fear
She stood there, arms akimbo. Alice meant
To force a confrontation. Time well spent.

Weird Wednesday: The Perspective

Coordinates aired on a TV show
Led to a spot from which, it could be seen,
The trees' denuded branches, in the glow
Of twilight, formed a face. What did it mean?
No one could say, but none who saw it felt
Like leaving. Force was needed for to lead
All comers from the site. And those who dwelt
Nearby? They were the first to feel the need,
The longing, the compulsion they called love,
But others called fixation. To a one,
They ceased to eat or drink, and would speak of
No thing but their obsession. Now it's done.
They've pined away. Their bodies form a mound
On what we all now know is sacred ground.

Weird Wednesday: Doggie Heaven

Mariah's life had ended, but she felt
Disoriented as she looked about.
She couldn't speak, did not know where she dwelt,
And felt the urgent need to just get out!
Alas, a giant door contained her. "Aww,
You want to go outside? Do you? Well, speak!"
All she could do was yip; her mouth and jaw
Could not form words, but what she'd done seemed fine.
Outdoors the world was wonderful, with smell
And sound that fair bewitched her. "Puppy, mine,"
A voice said "You e'er treated your dogs well
In life. Now that you're dead, you get to live
The life that those once in your care will give."

Weird Wednesday: The Warehouse Accident

Zeb Collins was marooned atop a stack
Of pallets, when his forklift driver took
A joke he'd made quite poorly. Looking back,
He could have made a better choice. Now look:
Atop the pallets with him was a box
That wasn't silent, and that wasn't still.
He peeked inside, and got him the worst shock
He's ever had; the contents that did spill
Beside him, all were robot heads, that woke
In unison! "Instructions please," their chant
Droned on and on, and as each object spoke
It moved on tiny wheels, surrounding Zeb.
Next morning, he lay up there, sans his head!

Weird Wednesday: Small Victories

They'd come from space; to space they would return,
This mighty warlike fleet -- but lo, a cat
Had swallowed ev'ry ship! They'd have to burn
Their way out of its flesh. Each spaceship that
Now found itself within began to fire
Its lasers. Meanwhile, on a mat, asleep,
The puss began to glow. Its state was dire,
But mercifully it did not wake ere, deep
Within it, came destruction. Now all, free
And angry, did the ships emerge to blast
To rubble ev'ry city they found. We
Cared not to lose our termites and, at last,
Our ants, but slowly all here came to ruin
As none did what those bugs had e'er been doing.

Weird Wednesday: Not in Wonderland, Part XXIII

Her hands were empty; she had dropped the stock
Its wood was all 'twas left of her strange friend.
"Oh no," was all she said; she was in shock
To see her rifle come to such an end.
The whine of metal-mites diminished to
Inaudability. The lovely mist
Now smelled of rust, like blood. She wandered through
Unseeing, down a path, hands clutching wrists,
All dazed and purposeless. Then came to pass
She thought of all they'd left back in their wake.
The rabbit-skunk, the scorpion, and Gas --
Her teeth then clenched so hard her jaw did shake.
Her fury thus rekindled, she did yell
"Whoever built this, you will burn in hell!"

Weird Wednesday: Planetfall on Proxima b

The person who first stepped down from the ship,
Whose boot first trod Proxima b's dry dust
Was only nine years old. The long, long trip,
Produced new generations, as such must.
Jah Wrench was one of these -- and of the few
Who still survived, she was the strongest, tough
And literate. She'd captained them on through
The last stretch of the journey, just enough
Resources left to keep the children fed
And breathing. Now she'd have to lead the band
On this new world. Soon they must move their dead
From shipsoil into this unpromised land
To fertilize it. So much to be done!
She shook her fist up at the big, red sun.

Weird Wednesday: Not in Wonderland, Part XXII

"This feels a bit unsafe," the rifle said.
"What will I turn into for drinking here?"
Asked Alice, hoarse of voice. Her eyes were red,
And her expression -- well, it wasn't fear
Contorting her tired features. "No, that ain't
The hazard I'm suspecting," she was told.
Before her cracked lips issued new complaint
(The mist was so inviting, clean and cold!)
The pair of them were swarmed, trapped in a cloud
That bit and scratched in microscopic ways.
"Oh no, it's metal-mites, and such a crowd!"
A screech resounded. Girl and gun, whose days
Together had brought ruin, now were done
As partners. "Hey, you're bleeding, dummy. Run!"

Weird Wednesday: Not in Wonderland, Part XXI

On its advice, our Alice soldiered on
So far across the sand and brush it seemed
She'd left the world behind. One lonely dawn,
However, something out there fiercely gleamed,
Like high-rise window glass, and then a smell
Of water came to Alice, quickening
Her steps. She thought at first, perhaps, a well
Or tiny spring awaited, thickening
The air around it as the desert drank.
What she found when she reached it, though, was not
What she'd expected. Huge, a water tank
Did loom above a lawn of cheatgrass, hot
And raw, and some contraption next it sprayed
A mist into the atmosphere. Man-made!

Weird Wednesday: Not in Wonderland, Part XX

She'd knocked Gas out, the rest of them were dead
Or hiding. Alice stormed into the waste,
Her chatty rifle silent, out of lead
Or good advice. With nothing left to chase
Or question, Alice just kept walking. Dry
And empty, like the land that swallowed her,
She felt no purpose. Nothing left to try,
Nowhere to go. With nothing left to spur
Her onwards, finally she broke the still
And empty silence. "Gun, where can we get
More bullets? And, then, when we fill
You up again, what do you say we let
Someone in charge know that we're here, if such
Exists?" "Well yes, I'd like that very much!"

Dog Week: Weird Wednesday: Rosie Chihuassell, Scourge of Monster Kind

Nobody saw the monster -- well, except
For Rosie, pint-sized ball of ire and fur
And anger that intruders might beset
Her territory. Were this to occur
She'd kill or else be killed! Among her stock
Of weapons was her mighty sonic shriek.
She used it 'gainst all foes around the clock
With varying success. It was quite weak
On deer and power mowers, cats and those
Across the street who went about their chores
Like nought was wrong. At nighttime, though, there rose
The ghasts and gaunts and ghouls that she abhors,
That she alone can see. They shall not feed
While she can bark, they agonize indeed.

Weird Wednesday: Arrangements

The dinner by the railroad tracks looked closed,
But smells of frying bacon, coffee, eggs
And maple syrup wafted out. Supposed
A body wandered in, Lynch thought. His legs
Were stiff from walking. Breakfast would be nice!
He sidled in. She nodded toward a seat.
"Sure thing. You sure don't have to tell me twice!"
He laughed. Soon he was finishing a sweet
And toasty roll with coffee. Then she slid
Into his booth. "We're at the KOA,"
She told him. "How'd you know? I's just a kid
Last time they did the ritchul." She would say
No more. And at the campground, a new stake
Was pounded in. Lynch soon would feed the Slake.

Weird Wednesday: The Campus Tour

They hadn't really thought things fully through
When they established this fine school. They'd named
It after an inspiring author, who
Was much admiréd, but when that time came
To choose a mascot -- oh, it's still too soon
To talk about what happened? Not all folk
Know how their loved ones died? But hey, it's June
And football ended months ago! The smoke
Still hasn't cleared? The field's still burning? Get
Yourselves together! There's a summer term
Beginning in just days! Yes, I just met
The chancellor, who said so. Yes, the burn
Is sad, and I am sure the dragon feels
As sorry as the staff, right now, for reals!

Weird Wednesday: Not in Wonderland, Part XIX

The scene they left, the rifle and its girl,
Is best left undescribed. Tea parties should
Have nicer endings than a haze and whirl
Of lead destroying their whole neighborhood,
But such are things out in the deadly waste.
The jackalope with two heads would have peace
From squabbles at the very least. In haste,
Though, Alice hadn't checked her ammo. Feast
Then famine for her weapon. That's why Gas
Survived and now was at her side, a stream
Of promises, apologies, too fast
To comprehend. He'd built a head of steam
'Til Alice stopped her striding. "Gas, you know,
Just shut your mouth." It only took one blow.

Weird Wednesday: The Patriarch

From deep within the tree trunk watched a man
Who'd disappeared within it long ago,
His price for going forward with a plan
To guard his own descendants, see them grow
In safety from his enemies. From there
Beneath the bark and sap, his will held sway.
When raiding parties came to strip him bare
They found him not. His family, at play
Did never know their danger. Swarms of bees
And other creatures barred those who'd attack,
As Father willed. And through the centuries
His tree spread suckers, claiming rich and black
And fertile land for all his progeny.
A bargain quite well struck, if you ask me.

Weird Wednesday: The Curse

The jewel he'd stolen was of little worth,
Quite flawed and unattractive, but its cost!
A voice had told him he would walk the earth
One final year before at last he lost
A precious gift. The anniversary
Of his tomb raid passed with no incident,
But on the morning next he did not see
Or hear his wife beside him. He just went
About his old routine. He simply thought
His space was being respected. Only when
He saw the tableware move, and did spot
Food disappearing as he dined -- he'd been
Made blind to living beings. What they did
He saw full well, but faces, forms were hid!

Weird Wednesday: Inbreeding? You Decide

At last the resource needed for to learn
Important truths existed: time machines!
A grant approved, a crew was sent to burn
Their names into pure Science Legend, deans
And tenured types, and grad students, all went
Into the past, disguised as being from
A made-up planet. Subjects who'd been bent
Enough to vote for Drumpf were made to come
Aboard their "spacecraft" to be probed back there.
The study took some forty years of toil,
And when their sampling was complete, much care,
Analysis and fact-checking each coil
Of DNA thus taken did suggest
Familial links 'mongst the race's "best."