For the Odd Instance at a Cocktail Party...

For the Odd Instance at a Cocktail Party When you Find Yourself Locked in Conversation with an Unnaturally Enthusiastic Hot Tub Cover Salesman, Having Nothing to Offer by Way of Related Small Talk,
and Otherwise Unable to Escape (… a Working Title)

There once was a great big black bear

who like most bears was covered with hair.

Despite his warm fur

a chilled wind would stir

him to shiver at winter’s cold air.

His diet consisted of grubs

and soft pinecone seeds that he loved.

His tummy was warm

yet he was forlorn

since he longed to soak in a hot tub.

One day he poked out of the woods

and beside a log cabin it stood:

Through a soft mist of steam

and the smell of chlorine

the bear’s dream was in reach! Life was good.

Paws propped on the tub, he looked down.

In confusion the bear wore a frown.

The water, he knew,

was supposed to be blue

but instead it was hard flat and brown.

First he nibbled a bit with his maw

then he reached out a tentative claw.

With a pull and a tear

this tenacious bear

sank in water clear up to his jaw.

The next day a man stared in wonder

at the marks on his brown hot tub cover.

“Not a bear…” thought he,

“Yet what else could it be?”

For the cover was quite torn asunder.

Our bear was no longer devoid

of the pleasure he often enjoyed.

He came night after night

soaking to his delight

keeping hot tub lid vendors employed.

                                                                                                                    ~ Dani Rogero