Listen and read-along with this poem that will make you ponder, by Dean Flowerfield.

        My brother says the strangest things

and though I rack my brain,

I never comprehend a word he says

and beg him to explain.

But he just winks or laughs at me

and says I’m just a pup.

He claims his words would all be clear

if I would just grow up.

My brother says that snow is rain

but just a little colder.

He also says a man’s a boy

but just a little older.

He says a giant is a dwarf

but just a little taller

and that a ball is like the earth

but just a little smaller.

He says that although time goes by

we’re always in the present

and that a thing in motion

is going where it isn’t.

He says a case of hiccups

is a swallow upward bound

and that a smile is only

a frown that’s upside down.

He claims a laugh is just a tear

that’s really inside out

and that a silly giggle

is just a backwards pout.

The things he says are sensible

and yet they seem so queer.

He says they’ll lose their mystery

when I become his peer.

His laughing words confuse me

and leave me ill at ease.

I’ve spent a childhood wondering:

Is he wise or just a tease?

THE END

About the Author

Dean Flowerfield (aka David Blumenfeld), is professor emeritus of philosophy. He taught at the University of California, Santa Cruz; University of Illinois at Chicago; Southwestern University, where he held the McManis Chair in Philosophy and Religion; and Georgia State University, where he was philosophy chairperson and associate dean for the humanities.

His 2021 publications are in Best New True Crime Stories:Well-Mannered Crooks, Rogues & Criminals; Mono.; Balloons Lit. Journal; The Caterpillar; Beyond Words; the other side of hope; Sport Literate and (forthcoming 2022) Carmina Magazine and Drunk Monkeys.

Check out his website at; https://www.davidcblumenfeld.com