Common sense and shellac,
good with a joke,
his girl Minnie, a gun;
Goofy at his side,
manly determined —
even so, Mickey’s the mouse —
Black Pete doesn’t stand a chance.
Able to leap from mundane
to unbelievable in a couple
of panels, Mickey, intrepid explorer,
investigator, takes us along
shares easily, completely;
it’s the American Way — any mouse
would do the same for a pal.
Picture this, reality on its edge,
sixteen corners a day,
the centerpiece a pint-size
quarterback ready to run
with the whole ball of wax
even though the impossible lurks,
a twitch of a whisker away.
Pursued by the nervous breath of
the stalking cat of public adoration,
come, chase the mouse if he is to make it
and … look…
ahead, all that white, the blank …
© Ward Maxwell, 2014
Peterborough Poets 