just so? stories: 2. mobster sits on him

once, ago, in midtime blacking,
lived a mobster, fixing, whacking — 
left his feet too near the fire,
caught a ball inside the spine

mobster’s a generic rhyme,
for a fella turned to crime — 
from a tiny, tender age,
gone in for nefarious things — 
gooners, axes, and ellipses,
chimney sweepers, pills, and pickles — 
pulling down progenitors,
lollards, limes, schismators — 
joined a sect, the war sweats,
tempted doves with cardboard nuts

an evil deed leads to three,
rats, lambs, larger prey — 
swapping llamas, kangaroos — 
conjured wombats, cardinals — 
cheesing cockatiels with oats — 
hoodwinked oars and casseroles — 
danced around the delphic bacon,
conned the clown, and lucifer — 
finally, a step too trick,
capped the cool lion frederick

frederick, for fredericks, go,
wouldn’t have rannygazoo — 
called his friends, capybaras,
ran a ruck upon the mobsters — 
paddocked in a marshes land,
corralled in a bright red pan — 
mineral squirrel came to laugh,
subtle syllogism, crass,
called companion, prince of chile,
cooned agrippa, consequently — 
laid the law upon the lugs,
mowed them down with gatling guns

cornelius, the indian horse,
king of crooks, and dinosaurs,
looking down, and wistfully,
pronounced an epitaph, pitifully:
mobsters well or may be what,
whatever they, till they are not — 
preach with fire, dragons, sword,
end in collars, cleaving, cord — 
nulla in nobis, not anyone — 
if you live, you die the gun