{"id":141150,"date":"2024-07-23T12:58:02","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T17:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=141150"},"modified":"2024-07-23T12:58:04","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T17:58:04","slug":"the-view-from-the-balcony-monkey-business-on-the-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/the-view-from-the-balcony-monkey-business-on-the-square\/","title":{"rendered":"The View From The Balcony: “Monkey Business on the Square”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Once upon a day so cheery
while I spoke with friends held dearly
o\u2019er libations cold and beery
pond\u2019ring strange things we had seen,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

suddenly we saw a couple
walking down Van Buren snuggling,
window shopping, though not bustling,
around the Square pristine,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All at once we four did notice,
as if life were out of focus,
something strange, perhaps verboten,
wond\u2019ring, \u201cHalloween?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our calendars we all were checking,
weighed them and we found them lacking.
\u2018Twas July 6 and we were baking
hot and melting prometheens.
We all took a closer lookie,
confirmed that it was not a Wookie,
or a monster known as Cookie
this spry thing so lean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We watched and watched with jaws a\u2019 slacking,
fin\u2019ly at each other cackling
at this sight that was so baffling.
We hooted and we screamed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never in a month of Sundays
did any of us think that one day
we\u2019d behold a thing more shocking,
than this thing we had seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People on the streets were staring,
some of them perplexed and glaring.
Most were dumbstruck at this pairing,
but little children beamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We often scoff at things not common,
things long gone and oft forgotten,
like red, red robins bob bob bobbin\u2019
they walk right past, unseen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once I had three aunts named Myrtle.
One died from a too tight girdle,
a second failed to clear a hurdle,
the third drowned in ice cream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A table mate said she\u2019d once scuffled
with a man with white shirt ruffled.
She said she beat him with her bustle,
the whale bones unforeseen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another said she\u2019d shot her mother,
father, sister, and her brother.
She wished to do that to her lover
but he had split the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fourth just sat and cussed and cussed
about a man who squeezed her bust.
She left the intruder in the dust
with her very sharpened knees.
Now you\u2019ve heard about the somethings
seen by we four Oxford bumkins.
I hope you know that we weren\u2019t bluffin\u2019.
We had all come clean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what we\u2019d all seen on that day
left our minds in disarray
causing all to pause and say,
\u201cOf this we\u2019ll always sing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A monkey clung to a woman\u2019s back,
but that\u2019s not what took us aback.
It was the diaper that had wrapped
his butt and ding-a-ling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve seen many a strange, strange thing
like Summer snow and blazing Springs,
but the oddest thing I\u2019ve ever seen
was a diapered monkey shop shop ing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I made a vow upon that day:
no more watching Planet of the Apes.
Manifesting diapered primates
Was simply not my thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now you\u2019ve read my story true.
Eyes wide open so that you
won\u2019t be bumfuzzled at The View
from The Balcony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you spy a diapered primate,
drunken students, impaired band mates.
Chalk it up to stuff you may see
in your View from The Balcony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Randy Weeks is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Certified Shamanic Life Coach, an ordained minister, a singer-songwriter, an actor, and a writer. He may have watched too many versions of The Planet of the Apes. Randy may be reached swinging through the vines through Faulkner\u2019s Woods or at: randallsweeks@gmail.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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