Day Six

Today's words:

alphabet

grass

chimp

coat

toothbrush

church

Last night I noticed a letter missing from the alphabet

That you'd woven from grass.

Had some unruly chimp

Run off with it, just as they had with your coat

And my toothbrush?

I'll look for it in church

In any case. Why they always leave their finds in the church

Is a mystery. And why an alphabet

Letter, or a toothbrush?

The letter was woven of grass,

So that could be an attraction, and they've seen you wearing the coat;

It could have been taken by that chimp

Who almost seems human. He's not just any chimp.

I've even seen him in a pew at church.

He's probably there now, wearing your coat

And puzzling over the meaning of the alphabet - 

Or maybe he just knows it as grass.

Maybe he's learned to use the toothbrush.

That would be progress! I prepare my new toothbrush

And try to forget about the chimp.

Tomorrow I'll walk through the tall grass

On my way to that lonely church.

I'll wrap myself in the alphabet

As a protective coat

Against the illiteracy around me. I've seen it coat

Others, until they can scarcely read, or even use a toothbrush.

We're not going down that road. That's why I recite the alphabet

Even as I ignore the chimp,

And why I keep going to church

Even in this season of dry grass.

There's a woman in the next village.  I've seen her take this grass

And weave it into a coat.

She wears it sometimes to church.

I wonder if she can make a toothbrush

Of it as well, and maybe use it on the chimp.

Your work with the alphabet

Was a start. Transforming the grass into a toothbrush

Or a coat would be next. Maybe we'll even take the chimp

To church, and teach it the alphabet.