He brushed aside the crows feet, as the raven perched on his head,
sitting regally as a black swan.

The old man swatted it away -“Get off me, you ol’ chicken!”

“Your go – you said when you sat down here you were gonna play”

The small bat moved the pawn.

“No, no! We’re playing cards – deal those things!

“Are we playing gin again?”

“No, skat, you silly bat – but gin sounds perfect at a time like this.”

The small bat began to beat the rooks with the queen-
thwack ,thwack ,thwack with the constancy of a metronome.

“That queens gonna ice you good if you keep that up”

He sloshed gin from the old liquor bottle, into the teacup,
washing the faces of the painted orange flowers
and causing one nasturtium to hiccup quietly.

Rocking gently in the corner, the wheelbarrow creaked
as the long dragony tail of the crocodile kept time
with the blues man, his sax crying that black cat blues.

And the old man, grinning like a yellow toothed dog,
danced to the blues man’s tune
with Selene, her raven hair crowned with the crescent moon.

(Meanwhile, the raven and the bat played mumblety peg
with a needle in the haystack until the violinist played
last call.)

*** For dVerse Poetics, Claudia gave us a list to play with -Obelix, a dragon, a crocodile, an old tractor, a bat, a spaceship, Neptune, Superman, a greek god or godess, a chicken, a black swan, a nutcracker, a man who can’t stop clapping, a cup with orange flowers painted on it, a black cat, a dog with yellow teeth, a bluesman playing the saxophone, a violinist, Hänsel&Gretel, the Icequeen, an old liquor bottle, a wheelbarrow, a needle in a haystack, a raven, a blue car, a metronome…

Then an extra challenge, tell us about the old man, the moon and a little bat who meet at night here in the pub for a game of skat.