04-12-2023, 12:19 PM
The You Know, The Thing
“What’s black and white,”
she said, “and red
all over, twice?”
“I’ve heard this one, it’s
a newspaper,” I simpered.
“Wrong.”
“Oh, alright. I know
the other one. It goes,
‘A sunburned zebra.’
Gotcha!”
“What about that ‘twice?’”
she riposted in a trice.
“It must be,” I muttered,
thinking rapidly,
“two newspapers!”
“No. That will not go.”
“Then it’s two sunburned
zebras, there now, plains as...”
“Still no go, Romeo.”
A third clever possibility
escaped me like a bumblebee
flying free
after stinging.
“I give up.”
She grinned. I groaned.
“It’s...
a sunburned zebra
reading a newspaper
right down to the want-ads
and obituaries.”
“That’s silly,”
I complained
but she wanted
something explained:
“What’s a ‘newspaper,’
anyway?”
What a little dimpled lark
you are, I thought,
to memorize that entire jape
without any understanding,
darling ape. And said,
“It’s like an influencer
but made of wood
and, you know,
red.”
“What’s black and white,”
she said, “and red
all over, twice?”
“I’ve heard this one, it’s
a newspaper,” I simpered.
“Wrong.”
“Oh, alright. I know
the other one. It goes,
‘A sunburned zebra.’
Gotcha!”
“What about that ‘twice?’”
she riposted in a trice.
“It must be,” I muttered,
thinking rapidly,
“two newspapers!”
“No. That will not go.”
“Then it’s two sunburned
zebras, there now, plains as...”
“Still no go, Romeo.”
A third clever possibility
escaped me like a bumblebee
flying free
after stinging.
“I give up.”
She grinned. I groaned.
“It’s...
a sunburned zebra
reading a newspaper
right down to the want-ads
and obituaries.”
“That’s silly,”
I complained
but she wanted
something explained:
“What’s a ‘newspaper,’
anyway?”
What a little dimpled lark
you are, I thought,
to memorize that entire jape
without any understanding,
darling ape. And said,
“It’s like an influencer
but made of wood
and, you know,
red.”
Non-practicing atheist