Poetry and Illustration

A New Specimen

A poem of collectors and keepsakes

All the little people
That I keep in little jars
All the lonely lizards
That I gathered up on Mars

Everywhere I travel
In my spinning saucer ship
I bring my whole collection
Not a specimen I skip

I seek out slimy creatures
And sophisticated apes
I feed them lemon pudding
Plankton, flies and seedless grapes

Sometimes we coast in orbit
Sometimes we warp time and space
Sometimes we’re in no hurry
Sometimes flying in a race

Seek I, a new specimen
A critter never yet seen
It might be blue or purple
Orange, pink, brown, plaid or green

I’ll look in Neptune’s oceans
Where the ammonia ices
Of critters in this system
Ol’ Neptune’s are the nicest