Enormous Tots - Carla Bley

When you were there they could wait

But not now, not now they can’t

They never wanted it, they never went out of their way to get it

And now they’re getting over it

Call us and we’ll be glad you did

(They'll be glad you did!)

You got to scrape the feet

Right from inside of your shoes

In this old jungle

Snakes with fat working legs

Look up at you

They don’t bite

They chew

Got some

Not too many

Got a few

Think of what you’ll miss

If you do

Call them

And they’ll be glad you did

Or go walk near the warning sign

(see the starving fish)

They’ll be glad you did

Waitresses

Are starting to stare at the food

People seem to lean forward when they dont understand

Backward when they do

He’d go long distances

Seeking whatever misery he felt entitled to add to

Once he felt so dead he said ‘Isn't it wonderful to be alive?'

Call them and they’ll be glad you’re dead

They’ll be glad you’re dead

(Part II)

It takes an enormous tot

To rape a toy dog

The tearing so sharp

It clicks a wedge

Of sound fear

Through the mango forest

Eyes get beaked

And small furry animals

Go round

Spider wire bites

Leave sparkling gaps

In knees

Cruel

Deep

Knee trenches

Filling

So Quickly

With gnats

Think of what

You will miss

If you do not

It takes

It takes

An enormous tot

As the badly crippled man

Whose father had fed

The Village wrestlers

And broken up riots

With a stick

Runs frozen-footed

Toes hunched

Infected teeth

Skiddish eyes

Squeezed closed

To formal Maltese opinion

At birth

He was told that pussies

Would torture him

Antemortem

Think of what you’ll miss

If you do not

It takes an enormous tot

It takes an enormous tot

It takes an enormous tot

It takes an enormous tot