I had to hide my rubber ducks
because for some reason
my freshman boys could not
leave them alone. Now they
are hiding inside my office
with my owl lip balm and
my librarian action figure with
shushing motion and my
James Joyce finger puppet
and my Shakespeare, complete
with quill pen. They’re all gathered
around my big green crazy-head
which used to say things
when you squeezed him
until my son threw him against
the wall. And all my toys, for
reasons unknown to me,
are stationed between Kafka’s
short stories and a biography
of Stephen Crane by John
Berryman, who once wrote,
Life, friends, is boring.
Maybe so, John, but not when
you have a small but select
collection of toys at work.
michael jarmer 
Sweet toys, yes. And I say, the best of friends that don’t get bored hanging out while you move in your chair so little, only turning pages or stroking the page with your quill.