Remember the Shmoo?

Way back in the days of L'il Abner
and Daisy Mae, a little creature
appeared one day, the Shmoo!

The Shmoo loved to be eaten
and was capable of assuming any shape
the person who was hungry wished.
The Shmoo, shaped a little like a
"Casper the Friendly Ghost" without arms
would gratefully die and become
a roast chicken, a stack of griddle cakes,
a 3-layer chocolate cake.

The denizens of this comic strip thought
(at first) they'd found the ultimate good
(a land of milk and honey pehaps)
until they noticed that everyone
was getting very lazy.

Now this was not good.
Eventually, they sorrowfully parted
with the little band of shmoo
who went away to a mythical land
(perhaps the land of the unicorn.)

I loved the shmoo.
I loved animals too, not even thinking
that the beef on the table was the
cow in the field.

They only ate dogs in Mexico, frogs and
snails in France.

You had to teach me the sanctity of life,
tossing it out (ant by ant) from our kitchen
when I would have crushed them.

I still prefer not to know too closely
that the fish I eat once glimmered in the sea.
Remember Nemo? Remember Babe?

Pam

Comments

[Melanie Ross]

I am very impressed by what you wrote about shmoo and life its ownself. Not even sure where I am on net...was just looking in google for images of shmoos. Thank you from an awe-filled fellow bioform.