How come we always find ourselves in this situation?
Each week The Sunday Whirl invites writers to write a poem or short prose using some or all of the “Wordle’s” 12 words. This week it is:
On Straightening Out The World: One Fine Mess
This is one fine mess you’ve gotten us into this time,
Hardy complains.
Stan sighs and plays with his tie, not yet whimpering,
but soon will be.
The visit did not go well, with Stan spinning into
the bust of an important figurehead.
You can get dressed up, Stanley, but it seems
I can’t take you any place,
Hardy complains again.
Stanley hears funereal music playing,
and the whimpering begins.
Go ahead, Ollie, Stan says, bending over,
offering Ollie a level back and a rump ready for
the expected and impending kick.
But their relationship exists, like all relational systems,
working in mysterious ways,
because Stanley, as he awaits the kick, which is
slow in coming,
rises up, causing Ollie to miss
the intended target,
and go flying backwards onto his own unintended target,
leaving Stanley to giggle at first
after seeing what has happened, then laugh
pointing his finger at Ollie.
Then, as reality hits him hard that he has caused
another important figurehead to go flying,
he whimpers once again, and then begins to wail;
when done, he scratches the top of his head
and blinks his eyes with that
beleaguered look on his face,
as Ollie drums his fingers against his cheek,
lying on his side,
waiting for Stanley to recover enough to assist him in
getting up,
and you know what will happen next,
since we’ve seen
this scene so many times before,
haven’t we?
Randy Mazie
The Writer's Village 
Old enough to remember these guys. 🙂 Well done.
thank you.
I don’t know the history of these characters at all. But just enjoyed the to and fro ‘dialogue’ in this lively poem.
Laurel and hardy – comic characters from the thirties and forties. Try you tubing them.
But the story is meant as an allegory about how the world operates on some level.
How sorry I always felt for Stanley but always went back for more at the Saturday morning kids flicks.
🙂
Yes this scene feels familiar…they knew a thing or tow about relationships…mostly with the world maybe – it’s kicks..prat falls and getting back up…you have to laugh to keep smiling..a unique poem…expertly done!
Thank you. You said it all. Randy
A most common scene in many arenas.
yes, in a comedic and tragic manner.