cockroaches have rights too
Archy the cockroach is my hero.
He's hard headed and stubborn, just like me.
His lands on his noggin on typewriter keys to write poems.
Though I do wish he would drop those sad-sack earth tones.
Seeing life from the underside makes Archy (and me) cry.
He so depressed, he's suicidal.
Archy's a mess with a great big heart,
he's such a small scrapper, people forget he's there
- they talk, he listens and overhears, O gentle reader.
I adore Archy, a poet crusading for a better world.
His heart holds a flame for hard-luckers,
especially his catty friend, Mehitable.
The razzle-dazzle yowler cheers up Archy.
She's a soft bedrageled puss with swagger in her hips,
a merry dame & backstreet dancer that drives the toms wild.
Mehitable shows Archy what freedom looks like-
just say Yes to bad boys, good times and trouble,
and along come more tiresome babies.
Cat gurl-ies of child bearing age pay for mistakes with kitties.
Archy tries to act like Mehitabel's conscience,
he coaches her to be a good mother.
Mehitabel's a supra drama queen,
blasting song and zest into Archy's life,
she's the alley story grease on his typewriter.
Any poet who has ever struggled for words
needs a good friend named Archy.
One might be available at any local roach surplus.
The next time those featherlight legs tickle my skin,
instead of swatting to squash the bug, I'll laugh and appreciate
the smallness it takes to crawl between floor boards just out of reach.
after Don Marquis, Archy & Mehitabel
***
World Peace Poetry Postcards
writing peace poems on postcards in February
we turn to each other, tranquility flows
into the universe by postal service
writers of the past inspired each other:
Dante turned to Virgil
Pound turned to Homer and Dante
The Dalai Lama & Walt Whitman
turned to peace for wisdom
their words celebrate multitudes
everyday people writing peace poems
breaks walls of religion, culture, gender
and opens universal connections
peace crosses borders to Toa & nature,
mind-floodgates unlock haiku & Buddhism
when Ingrid reads Laura's 28 Peace Thoughts
https://www.verse-virtual.org/2026/May/bruck-ingrid-2026-may.asp?p=4&n=6
Date Published: May 1, 2026