Archie the cockroach and Mehitabel the alley-cat are not so well-known these days but are part of the treasury of modern American literature. Archie is the reincarnation of a free-verse poet, while Mehitabel says she’s the reincarnation of Queen Cleopatra.
Archie painstakingly operates the author’s typewriter by night. His line-breaks are very unconventional, but add to the charm of his quirky messages. This brief epistle is one of his most renowned, and the egotistical toad might of course be interpreted as humanity, collectively or individually.
Archie and Mehitabel, xiii
warty bliggens the toad
i met a toad
the other day by the name
of warty bliggens
he was sitting under
a toadstool
feeling contented /
he explained that when the cosmos
was created
that toadstool was especially
planned for his personal
shelter from sun and rain /
thought out and prepared
for him
do not tell me
said warty bliggens
that there is not a purpose
in the universe
the thought is blasphemy
a little more
conversation revealed
that warty bliggens
considered himself to be
the centre of the said
universe
the earth exists
to grow toadstools for him
to sit under
the sun to give him light
by day / and the moon
and wheeling constellations
to make beautiful
the night for the sake of
warty bliggens
to what act of yours
do you impute
this interest on the part
of the creator
of the universe
i asked him /
why is it that you
are so greatly favoured
ask rather
said warty bliggens
what the universe
has done to deserve me /
if I were a
human being I would
not laugh
too complacently
at poor warty bliggens
for similar
absurdities
have only too often
lodged in the crinkles
of the human cerebrum
archy